Moreway was born in 1902 in a small village on the outskirts of Bristol. He worked on a farm owned by his father until he was 7 years old. In 1909 Moreway's father died of tuberculosis, in the following months his mother committed suicide. After this Moreway and his sister Elaine, who was in her late teens at the time, continued to run the farm until they both decided to leave for Bristol. The two siblings moved into a small house on the edge of the city. In 1912 Moreway's sister left to find work in the north following a lasting relationship between a man from Newcastle. Moreway was left alone and was accepted into a church. For the next two years he was taught to read and write within the church and became a pious man fixated on family life.