Early Life :

Education & Career :

He was educated at Lancing College where he was in Olds House from September 1902 to April 1905 and where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps for three years.

On leaving school he worked as an accountant for a bank and lived at 6 St Alma Square, St John's Wood in London. He moved to Egypt where became a Freemason and was accepted as a member of the Star of the East Lodge at Cairo on the 8th of March 1912; he became a member of Grecia Lodge 1105 on the 3rd of December 1912.

He was married to Maria (nee Parmigiani) at the British Consulate in Cairo on the 11th of July 1914 and they had a daughter, Violet, born on the 21st of September 1915.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

The Battle of the Somme 1st July - 18th November 1916 is inevitably characterised by the appalling casualties (60,000) on the first day, July 1st 1916. Having failed to break through the German lines in force, and also failed to maximise opportunities where success was achieved, the battle became a series of attritional assaults on well defended defence in depth. The battle continued officially until 18th November 1916 costing almost 500,000 British casualties. German casualties were about the same, and French about 200,000. The Somme could not be counted a success in terms of ground gained or the cost, but it had a strategic impact as it marked the start of the decline of the German Army. Never again would it be as effective whilst the British Army, learning from its experience eventually grew stronger to become a war winning army. The German High Command recognised that it could never again fight another Somme, a view that advanced the decision to invoke unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to starve Britain of food and material, and in doing so accelerated the United States declaration of war thus guaranteeing the eventual outcome. 287 Brethren were killed on the Somme in 1916.

Detail :

On the 14th of September 1916 the 1/8th (City of London) Battalion (Post Office Rifles) assembled at High Wood for an attack there the following morning. At 7.20am the whistles blew and they advanced on the right of the assault, half in and half out of the wood itself, and entered Flag Lane which was the second objective of 140th Brigade.

During the attack on High Wood Rifleman "Porky" Knight of A Company, Post Office Rifles, had come under heavy fire and seen his Company Commander and two of his Lieutenants fall. As the survivors scattered, he ran to some fallen trees and took cover. The machine gun fire continued to be fierce and he glanced over his shoulder to see Captain Webb approaching from the rear, with a revolver in his hand at about 9am. Webb said "Up Knight and at them". Together they rushed the enemy machine gun post but Oswald Webb was killed and Knight was wounded in the right thigh. The wood fell at around 1pm after two months of bitter fighting.

His brother, Private Stanley Jules Webb 11th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, was killed in action on the 24th of March 1918.

Masonic :

Webb became a Freemason being initiated into the Star of the East Lodge at Cairo on the 8th of March 1912;

He became a joining member of Grecia Lodge 1105 on the 3rd of December 1912.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Website : Lancing College War Memorial