Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War ‘Passchendaele’ M.C. group of four awarded to Second Lieutenant John Harold Webb, 21st Battalion Manchester Regiment, late Royal Fusiliers, killed in action on 9 October 1918

Military Cross, G.V.R., reverse inscribed, ‘John Harold Webb, 21st Manchesters. 23/11/17’; 1914-15 Star (5907 Cpl., R. Fus.); British War and Victory Medals (2 Lieut.); Memorial Plaque (John Harold Webb) the group fitted in a 31 x 31cm. wooden glass-fronted frame, extremely fine (lot) £1800-2200

M.C. London Gazette 25 April 1918. ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in leading his platoon under most difficult circumstances. When only six men were left, and he was forced to withdraw, he established another post slightly in rear and though wounded, patrolled to his flanks in order to establish touch.’

John Harold Webb was born on 10 December 1889, the son of Edwin Percy and Mary Webb of Heaton Norris, Stockport. He was educated at the Macclesfield and Manchester Grammar Schools. On leaving school he joined the firm of Messrs. A. & S. Henry & Co. With the onset of war he joined the Royal Fusiliers on 4 September 1914. He entered the France/Flanders theatre of war on 14 November 1915 and served there until January 1917. He was wounded at High Wood, 20 July 1916. Webb received a commission in the 21st Battalion Manchester Regiment on 26 June 1917 and returned to France on 26 August 1917. 2nd Lieutenant Webb was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery in action at Passchendaele and was for the second time wounded. He was killed in action on 9 October 1918, aged 28 years and was originally buried in the Maretz British Cemetery, near Le Cateau, then later interred in the Busigny Communal Cemetery Extension, France. At the time of his death his home address and that of his parents was ‘Witherslack’, Prestwich Park, Prestwich, Manchester.

With a large quantity of original documents including: birth certificate; Officer’s Record of Service booklet; Field Service Post Cards (3); a number of sketches and cartoons; numerous letters of condolence; commemorative scroll; memorial plaque slip; M.C. citation; War Office slip to accompany the M.C.; Imperial War Graves Commission slip re the erection of a permanent headstone; The Manchester Grammar School Book of Remembrance; a Manchester Grammar School medal (unnamed) in fitted case; and a number of postcard photographs. Also with a large photograph of the recipient in uniform, in a glass-fronted wooden frame, 545 x 455mm., fitted with a ‘Manchester Regiment’ cap badge.