Name
George Cuthbert Webb
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/08/1917
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
36515
Princess Charlotte of Wales’s Royal Berkshire Regiment
6th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 45
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not listed on the Hertfordshire Regimental Memorial, All Saints Church, Hertford, Not on the Croxley Green memorial, Chislehurst Town Memorial
Pre War
No evidence has been found to corroborate the Soldiers Died record that George Cuthbert Webb was born in Croxley Green. George’s residence is recorded as Chislehurst, Kent and, after the war, his mother Elsie Eliza Webb was living at 12 Elmstead Lane, Chislehurst. His father was George E Webb.
According to the 1911 census George Cuthbert aged 16 was living with his parents George Edgar and Elsie Eliza Webb at Wierton, Boughton, Monchelsea, south of Maidstone, Kent. The census records that George had been born in Linton, Kent, which is nearby. That seems plausible. No entry has been found on the list of christenings at All Saints’ Croxley Green.
Recorded as enlisting in Hertford.
Wartime Service
Formerly 5985 in the Hertfordshire Regiment.
According to the entry in Soldiers Died in the Great War Private George Webb was born in Croxley Green, enlisted at Hertford but resided at Chislehurst, Kent.
The records of both Soldiers Died and Commonwealth War Graves give the service number 36515. Commonwealth War Graves gives his second name as Cuthbert. However, identifying records for the correct George Webb has proved difficult. There are three men of that name, according to the medal rolls index cards, who served both in the Hertfordshire and Royal Berkshire Regiments. All three were killed and their Berkshire service numbers are similar but none corresponds to 36515. The most likely is Private George Cuthbert Webb (36516) who was formerly 5985 Hertfordshire Regiment as stated on Soldiers Died. (One of the other George Webbs, also of the 6th Royal Berkshires (36513 and 5722), was a Watford man but there is no evidence of a Rickmansworth district connection.)
The 6th Royal Berkshires took part in the battle of Passchendaele and George Cuthbert Webb was killed during a series of attacks and counter-attacks near the Menin Road.
Additional Information
*1 There is one George Webb listed on the Regimental memorial. However, there are three George Webbs listed in the Soldiers Died in the Great War database as 'formerly' in the Hertfordshire Regiment - all are privates. Although all are listed in the CWGC their connection to the Hertfords is not confirmed, but this is not necessarily surprising as the CWGC does not usually list previous regiments in which a man served. The listing in SDITGW is perhaps a little suspicious as they have consecutive Herts service numbers – 36513, 36514 and 36515, which seems a little too coincidental, as does the fact that they all are listed as subsequently serving in the Princess Charlotte of Wales’s (Royal Berkshire Regiment), albeit 36514 in the 7th Battalion and the others ion the 7th. It is therefore not clear which man is listed on the memorial. For further information on the other men George Webb 36513 and George Webb 36514.
Acknowledgments
Brian Thomson, Jonty Wild
