Name
Ernest George Webb
1892
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
06/09/1916
24
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Rifleman
304405
London Rifle Brigade
5th (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 9D
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
South Mimms Village Memorial,
St Cuthbert's Church Memorial, Norwich, Norfolk,
Roll of Honour, St Mary with St Margaret, Sprowston, Norfolk,
Family grave, Old Catton, Norfolk
Pre War
Ernest George Webb was born in Old Catton, Norfolk in 1892 the eldest son of George William and Ellen Georgiana Webb and one of four children. He was baptised on 6 March 1892 at St Margaret's Church, Old Catton, Norfolk, at which time his father was working as a carter.
On the 1901 Census the family were living on North Walsham Road, Old Catton where his father was a beer house keeper. They remained at the same address in 1911 at which time he was he was still living at home and working as a domestic gardener.
He was said to have been living in Shenley when he enlisted in Barnet, Herts.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Barnet and initially served with the 7th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, in Gibraltar, then in Egypt from 1 September 1915 where the battalion was involved in the Senussi campaign. They arrived in Marseilles in May 1916 and were subsequently quarantined after a typhoid outbreak. They were then disbanded, with a large draft of the men being posted to the 5th Battalion, London Regiment on 3 July to bring it up to strength after more than 500 casualties were sustained on 1 July 1916 (the first day of the Battle of the Somme).
A family grave inscription states that Ernest was 'wounded and missing at Lewze Wood, Somme, France on September 9th 1916'. It was subsequently assumed that he had been killed in action on that date. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His father received a war gratuity of £8 and pay owing of £2 5s 7d.
Pension records exist giving the name of Miss Maud B Hubbard of Attleborough, Norfolk and Mrs Ellen G Webb of Old Catton, Norfolk, as guardians of a child named Grace Kathleen Hubbard, born on 17 September 1913. A pension of five shillings a week was awarded.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Brian Lodge,
