No.320840, Sergeant, William John WEBB
Aged 20
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William John Webb was born in Little Thurlow (Risbridge Q4-1897 4A:767), son of Charles and Harriet WEBB (née SMITH).
1901 census...Aged 3, he was at The Green, Little Thurlow with his father Charles WEBB [40] engine driver born Great Bradley; his mother Harriet [35] brothers Frederick [13] farm labourer, Harry [5] and Albert [1]; sisters Emily [11] Ellen [9] and Mary [7]. All except his father were born in Little Thurlow. 1911 census...Aged 13, a farm labourer, he was still at The Green, Little Thurlow with his parents, brothers E.F [23] farm engine driver, H.C. [15] farm labourer and A.E.[11] scholar. All 8 siblings survive. |
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He enlisted in Haverhill in August 1914. His enlistment is indicated by his war gratuity and therefore he must have been retained in England, he was certainly
too young to have shipped overseas early in the war, albeit many were. It is not known in which battalion he originally served, not the 15th, as they were in
Gallipoli and then Egypt until 1918. The objectives on 5th were the Nurlu-Templeux la Fosse system of trenches. At the beginning of September the 15th Battalion was hidden in the vicinity of Hind Leg Wood and by the 3rd they had moved up to occupy Scutari Trench. At 09.30 on 5th September the Bn. received Brigade order no. 61. The Bn. was ordered to side step behind 231 Bde and take over from them the southern half of the Divisions front from an E & W line through (Map Ref) to the inter Bn. boundary on E & W line through (Map Ref) where touch was to be kept with 10th Buffs. 11.30 The advance on 1st objective (blue line) was begun. The Bn. passed through the 231Bde and pushed on. On approaching Larris Trench very heavy shell fire was experienced and met with a maze of barbed wire, causing a good deal of confusion. 16.00 Larris Trench occupied and advance continued on to Yellow Line. The whole of the line came under very heavy MG fire from the right causing a number of casualties in the leading companies. Shelling, H E and gas, was also very heavy. The Yellow was not taken. The men were very tired and wanted water badly, the C O decided to consolidate our line about 400 yards short of the Yellow Line and try again after dark. CWGC records show the 15th Suffolks lost 10 men on 5th September 1918.
photo: Rodney Gibson also commemorated on the family gravestone in Little Thurlow click here to go to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for full cemetery/memorial details |
