Gunner Frederick James Webber, Royal Garrison Artillery

[Guest rnwebber]

Remembering my great uncle Gunner Frederick James Webber, of the Royal Garrison Artillery, who died October 2, 1916, age 27, in Newton Abbot, Devon, from sickness incurred on the Western Front.

[clk]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

You may already know, but his Soldiers' Effects record shows him as "Cornwall R.G.A attd B Bty 1st A.A Bde". Perhaps oddly though it records that he died in the Jeffrey Hall Hospital in Sunderland, rather than in Newton Abbot.

Unfortunately, I didn't find a service record for him, nor a medal roll entry under his 999 service number (from Soldiers' Effects/CWGC records) or the number 990 (shown in the transcript of his Soldiers Died in the Great War record. I could well have missed it, but are you sure that he had overseas service?

Regards

Chris

Edit: What I also don't quite understand is the reason why whilst his wife (Hannah) was notionally entitled to a War Gratuity payment of £4 10s following his death, but the actual payment appears to be "Not Admissible". All very intriguing. Do you have a copy of his death certificate. or any other details that might help?

[Guest rnwebber]

Thanks for this Chris. All I have on Gunner Webber's war service is the CWGC casualty record which gives his service number as 999 and his date of death as 2 October 1916. I also have his Silver War Badge record which gives his enlistment date as 11 October 1915 and his discharge date as 2 July 1916. He was a member of the Devon & Cornwall Territorials before the war. Cause of discharge sickness: 392 (16) which usually means discharge for wounds or sickness incurred on the battlefield. My understanding is that the Silver War Badge was issued to discharged soldiers so they would not be accused by civilians of shirking their duty.

I was not aware he was ever married. His date of birth was 6 July 1889 and he died 2 October 1916. I have his census records for 1891, 1901 and 1911 but that is all I know about him. I have visited his grave in Newton Abbot.

Regards,

Reg Webber

[kevinrowlinson]

He certainly served his country, but not abroad. I think you may have confused the SWB for a soldier of the same name who served with the ASC. As Chris has said getting his death certificate may indicate whether he died from natural causes or from an accident whilst on active duty. At the time of his death he would have been a former gunner of either Devon RGA TF or Cornwall RGA TF.

Kevin