Webb, Private Edward Alfred

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Service highlights

  • Service number: 475500
  • Rank: Private
  • Born: London, 28 March 1896
  • Came to Canada: 1906, possibly with his brother William
  • Education: East Nissouri Public School and St. Marys Collegiate
  • University: entered University of Toronto, Victoria College, fall 1915
  • Enlisted: Toronto, 15 October 1915, in the 4th (McGill) University Company
  • Purpose of unit: reinforcements for Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
  • Sailed: 27 November 1915 from Halifax on SS Lapland
  • Training: transferred 7 December 1915 to the 11th Reserve Battalion to complete infantry syllabus
  • Hospital in England: short stay at Shorncliffe Hospital with tonsillitis
  • At the front: with PPCLI in the Ypres Salient by 16 March 1916
  • Wounded: 13 April 1916, shrapnel wound to the head during a routine trench tour near Mount Sorrel
  • Died: 17 April 1916 at 10 Casualty Clearing Station, possibly from infection
  • Burial: Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
  • Commemorated: on the St. Marys cenotaph

A Life and Service Remembered

Edward Alfred Webb was born in London, England, and came to Canada in 1906, still a child. He grew up with school years in East Nissouri and at St. Marys Collegiate, then stepped into university life at Victoria College in Toronto in the fall of 1915. The picture that emerges is of someone in the middle of a busy, promising start, a young man who was comfortable both on the ice and at a lectern. He captained his collegiate hockey team, won the Victoria College field day championship in 1915, and was known as a debater, the kind of person who would have been at home in classrooms, clubs, and crowded hallways.

He enlisted in October 1915 through the 4th (McGill) University Company, created to supply reinforcements for Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, a regiment that needed replacements constantly as the war ground on. He sailed from Halifax in late November and reached England in early December. Training was meant to be brief, but even that was interrupted when he spent time in Shorncliffe Hospital with tonsillitis. By mid March 1916 he was in Belgium with the PPCLI, living the trench routine of the Ypres Salient.

In March and April 1916, the PPCLI were not in major offensive fighting, but routine trench tours were dangerous in their own right. Sniping and shelling never stopped, and casualties came steadily even on days that were not marked on big maps. On 13 April, during one of those tours near Mount Sorrel, Edward was struck in the head by shrapnel. He was evacuated through the battalion aid post and field ambulance to 10 Casualty Clearing Station. He did not recover. He died on 17 April 1916, possibly from infection.

He was buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, a place filled with men who reached medical help but could not be saved. He was survived by his father, Edward H. Webb of Dufferin Street St. Lukes in London, England, and by his brother William Webb, who lived with John Mills near Stratford and served with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. He was also survived by a friend, Mrs Robert Thomas Wright of Thorndale, to whom he had arranged to send fifteen dollars a month from his pay, a small, practical sign of loyalty and care. Edward Webb is commemorated on the cenotaph in St. Marys.

Major battles and operations

  • Ypres Salient trench service with PPCLI, March and April 1916
  • Mount Sorrel sector routine trench tours
  • Wounded by shelling and shrapnel, 13 April 1916
  • Died at 10 Casualty Clearing Station, 17 April 1916
  • Buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium

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