Name
William James Webster
1884
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/04/1917
33
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
18798
Bedfordshire Regiment
8th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY
VI. D. 80.
France
Headstone Inscription
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN FROM LOVING WIFE AND CHILDREN
UK & Other Memorials
Baldock Town Memorial, St Mary the Virgin Church Memorial, Baldock
Pre War
William James Webster was born in Baldock, Hertfordshire in 1884, the son of William and Emma Webster, and was baptised there on 11 May 1884.
On the 1891 Census the family were living in the High Street at Baldock, next to Heath's Farm where his father worked as an agricultural labourer. They remained there in 1901 but William and his brother Alfred were living with their grandparents William and Ellen Webster at the house next door. William was then working as a malt maker.
He married Emily Mary Rosendale in 1905 and they had three children, Flossie May (1905), William John (1908) and Robert Rowan (1914). On the 1911 Census they were living at Royston Road, Baldock where he was was working as a maltster's labourer.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in Hitchin, Herts and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment, serving with the 8th Battalion in France.
In early 1917 the 8th Battalion were positioned at Mazingarbe, south east of Bethune and often subjected to heavy hostile barrages. In the week prior to William's death, more than 100 men were recorded in the battalion war diaries as wounded, as well as more than 75 killed.
On 25 April 1917, William, aged 33, died at No. 33 Casualty Clearing Station, France, from wounds received in action. He is buried in Bethune Town Cemetery.
Additional Information
His widow, Emily, received a war gratuity of £10 and pay owing of £1 18s 1d, she also received a pension of £1 6s 3d a week for herself and her three children and gave her address on pension records as Kneesworth Corner, Nr Royston. She later lived at Silver Hill, Royston.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Adrian Pitts, Paul Johnson
