Name
Walter Webb
22 January 1881
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
04/02/1917
36
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
20463
Bedfordshire Regiment
4th Bn.
"D" Coy.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ANCRE BRITISH CEMETERY, BEAUMONT-HAMEL
VIII. F. 21.
France
Headstone Inscription
A LOVING HUSBAND A FATHER KIND A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Leverstock Green Village Memorial, Not on the St Albans memorials
Pre War
Walter Webb was born in Clophill, Beds on 22 January 1881, the son of Arthur and Louise Webb and one of fifteen children, although five died in childhood.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at Oxleys Cottage, Haynes, Beds, where his father was working as a Horse Keeper on a Farm.
He married Jane Emma Elizabeth Maynard in 1905 and they had two daughters Ethel and Emily. They were living at Balconey Cottages in Leverstock Green in 1911 and Walter was working as a Paper Mill hand.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in St Albans in May 1915 and trained at the Ampthill Depot, Beds before being posted to the front in 1916, serving with the 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment.
He saw action at The Battle of Ancre and was wounded and invalided home in late 1916, returning to France in early 1917.
He was killed in action in France on 4 February 1917, when the Battalion was in front line trenches on the north bank of the River Ancre, after volunteering to deliver a message.
He was 36 years old when he died and was buried in Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel, France.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £7 10s and pay owing of £1 16s 4d. She also received a pension of £1 2s 11d from 20 August 1918
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Gareth Hughes, Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., google.com/site/leverstockgreenwarmemorial, www.hemelheroes.com.
