Additions will be checked before being published on the website and where possible will be forwarded to the person who submitted the original entries. Your contact details will not be forwarded, but they can send a reply via this messaging system.
please scroll down to send a message
Pte. John "Jack" Webb
British Army 2/16th (Westminster Rifles) Btn. London Regiment
from:Fulham, Middx
John Webb was my grandfather. He was born in Murton Colliery, Durham on 18 March 1897. His father, William Henry Webb was a coal miner and died of typhoid when John was 2 months old. His mother, Jane Ann, re-married when John was 8 years old to Thomas Collins, another miner. At some point before December 1915 John moved away from Durham and settled in Fulham, Middx. I was told by his daughter (my mother) that he did this to avoid having to work in the mines like his father, step-father and grandfather. John became a civil servant.
On 9th December 1915 John attested. I can track his progress through his service records to Salonika, Alexandria, Taranto and France. I have found his service records interesting but since I am not familiar with Army terminology, some of it is a mystery to me. Whilst in Egypt John was kicked by a mule in the back and spent a while in hospital in Ismailia. A fellow Rifleman, D Miller, witnessed this event.
John began his journey home on 18 January 1919 and returned to his wife whom he had married two years previously. He resumed his work as a Civil Servant and later retired as an HEO at The Admiralty. John died aged 71 in Sutton, Surrey.
.JPG)