Harry was a regular soldier and in 1911 (an army corporal) was lodging at 43, Castle Street, Tiverton and recruiting for the army.
He married Lucy Jane Labbett in Exeter in 1913 the daughter of John Labbett ( local butcher) and Mary Cann who although both Devon born married in 1874 in the Marylebone area Lucy being born in Dulwich and christened at Herne Hill. They had one son Jackie probably born just prior to their marriage in the Woolwich area.
There is some confusion over his place of birth as in the 1911 census this is shown as Crediton, whereas on the “Soldiers killed in WW1” record it shows Reading, although reading the parish report (see below) it talks of Harry being a Crediton lad.
At the time of the outbreak of World War 1 he was in the 1st Devonshires:-
04.08.1914 Stationed in Jersey at the outbreak of war.
21.08.1914 Mobilised for war and landed at Havre.
14.09.1914 Joined the 8th Brigade of the 3rd Division.
30.09.1914 Transferred to the 14th Brigade of the 5th Division and engaged in various actions on the Western Front including;
During 1914
The Battle of La Bassee, The Battle of Messines, The First Battle of Ypres.
Dec 1914 This Battalion took part in the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Harry was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) the citation reading:-
At Givenchy, on 25th October, carried on the defence of his trenches for two or three hours after the officers of his company had been killed or wounded.
During this time he kept the men together in spite of the fact that his right flank was exposed and that darkness was approaching. (11.11.14)
On 13th November 1914 Harry died of wounds received and is buried in the Holy Cross, Crediton churchyard
The December 1914 Parish Magazine carried the following tribute:-
The late Sergeant Harry Webb
Another name this month to be added to our Parish “Roll of Honour”. It is that of Sergeant Webb of the Devonshire Regiment, who was severely wounded with shrapnel in France and was taken into hospital in Calais, where an operation was performed. He was afterwards brought to England, and taken to the Alexandra Hospital, Cosham. There he died of his wounds on Friday, November 13th.
Sergeant Webb was on October 25th, engaged in an heroic defence of the position held by his company at Givenchy. All the officers had been either killed or wounded, but the sergeant kept his men together, and in face of a heavy attack by the enemy held onto the position for two or three hours. His wounds were received soon after this incident, for which he has been approved by the King for the medal of Distinguished Conduct in the Field. In the course of the campaign he saw much fighting extending from Ostend and the coast to nearly the other end of the line. Sergeant Webb had served twenty years in the Devons and went through the South African War. He possessed the Queen’s and King Edward’s medals, with eight bars, and also the long service and good conduct medals. He was in the following engagements in South Africa:- cape Colony, Laings, Nek, Transvaal, Relief of Ladysmith, Orange Free State and Tugela Heights.
After the war he was transferred to the 1st Devons, and spent some time with the regiment in India. He had been a recruiting officer for three years, after which he returned to Jersey where he embarked for France on the outbreak of war. He was a native of Crediton and married the daughter of Mr John Labbett, butcher of Park Street. He leaves a widow and an infant son. He was very popular at Crediton, and his death is sincerely mourned. Much sympathy is felt with the bereaved relatives.
A full account of the imposing military funeral that was accorded to him on Thursday November 19th, will be found in the Crediton Chronicle for November 21st. The Vicar on the following Sunday evening, after homage paid to the late Lord Roberts made the following reference to Sergeant Webb:-
“I would also, as due, pay a tribute of honour this evening to the memory of him whom we laid to rest the old churchyard also, on Thursday last. Harry, Sergeant Webb, was the type of man whom thank God there are thousands in our British and overseas armies. Brave resolute and with a very passion to do his duty for King and Country. He has done it with distinction, and besides the thought of this, there was another consoling thought that must have occurred to many, as he was borne along outside this Church to his last resting place before the sympathetic gaze of so many friends and Parishioners, that whereas thousands of our soldiers and sailors in this stern and terrible war now lie in nameless graves in France, or in the depth of the sea, it may be said of him that “Home they brought their Warrior dead,” for all that is mortal of him now rests in an honoured grave in the churchyard of the Parish of his birth.”