Died aged 19. 10 Dec 1897 – 16 Nov 1917
Private 295577. Somerset Light Infantry 12th (West Somerset Yeomanry) Battalion TF SLI. (229th Infantry Brigade 74th (Yeomanry) Division.
Robert’s parents William Webber married Mary Ann Webber on the 27th of October 1883 in Timberscombe. William had been born in Cutcombe, but settled in Timberscombe, his wife’s birthplace. They had 10 children, of which 9 had survived.
William worked as an agricultural labourer and brought up his young family in Timberscombe. The 1891 census finds him (aged 31) with his wife Mary Ann (32) and their children Albert (7), Edith (4) and Alice (2). It was into this family in the small village of Timberscombe that Robert was born on the 10th of December 1897.
By the time of the 1901 census, the Webber family had moved to West Street, in Dunster. William (41, a road mending contractor) and Mary (42) were living with their children Albert (17, a labourer on a farm), Edith (14, a domestic servant), Lizzie (9), Emma (7), William (4) Richard (3) and Thomas (4 months).
They were still in Dunster in 1911, but had moved to Ellicombe Lane, Dunster. . William (51, a general labourer) and Mary (52) were living with their children Emma (17), William (14), Robert (13), Thomas (10) and their infant granddaughter Winnie. William & Mary Ann had had 10 children, one had died by 1911.
Robert enlisted in Taunton, serving as Private 295577 with the Somerset Light Infantry 12th (West Somerset Yeomanry) Battalion TF SLI. (229th Infantry Brigade 74th (Yeomanry) Division. He had been in action during the invasion of Palestine. He died of wounds aged 19 in Egypt on the 16th November 1917.
From Dunster Museum: “At the time of his death he was in the 12th (West Somerset Yeomanry) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, which was in the 229th Brigade in the 74th (Yeomanry) Division in the XX Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) and Suez Canal Defences. At this time, the 12th Bn, as part of the EEF, was involved in the ‘Jewish Operations’ against the Ottoman Empire trying to secure Jerusalem, the final objective of the Southern Palestine Offensive during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. Many costly and bloody battles ensued before and after the Battle of Jerusalem but the overall objective was met. Robert died of wounds in the early stages of the Battle of Jerusalem.”
At the time of his death, his parents William and Mary Ann Webber were living in Park Street, Dunster.
Robert is buried in Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery, Row D, Grave 213, and is commemorated on the plaques in St George’s Church and Memorial Hall in Dunster, Somerset.
