Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Returned to Australia 22 September 1919

Son of Nicholas Pascoe WEBBE and Louisa Caroline nee HARMAN, 238 Angas Street, Adelaide, SA

William Teague Pascoe Webbe was born on the 19th of February 1893 to Nicholas Pascoe and Louise Caroline Webbe. He lived at number 238 Angas Street in Parkside, South Australia. He trained to be a clerk a few years before his enrolment in World War 1 (WW1). When he was around the age of 21, he joined the Naval Cadets at his own will and proceeded to develop leadership and teamwork skills for 18 months before leaving around 1915. He met the fitness and medical requirements to enlist into WW1 on July 19th, 1915 in Keswick, officially registering and given the service number 4298 only 10 days later on the 29th of July.

William’s journey to battle began on the 11th of January 1916, on a boat called the HMAT Borda A30. This boat transported William who was a bombardier along with the other soldiers who were part of the 13th Reinforcements in the 10th Infantry Battalion.

Soon after he arrived, on the 29th of February 1916, William was transferred to the 50th Battalion who was positioned in Zeitoun, Egypt. He was one of the first soldiers in this Battalion as it was formed in early 1916 with a combination of men from the 10th Battalion and new recruits. Shortly after his arrival in Egypt the 1st of March, William was promoted to Temporary Corporal which means he supervised and was in command of small units. The Battalion used the early months of 1916 for intensive training which would help prepare William for trench warfare in France. This training would include bayonet drills, trench warfare preparation, and weapons training. Being a bombardier, William would have used guns and artillery like an 18-pounder Field Gun, 60-pounder Gun and 6-inch Howitzer which were not utilized for close range combat.

He was relocated to the 12th Field Artillery Brigade who were positioned around the 50th Battalion in France on the 11th of June 1916. William was reverted to the permanent grade of gunner since he was absent without leave from 5.30 pm to 10 pm on the 23rd of June 1916. After their arrival, on the 23rd of July, William fought in the Battle of Mouquet Farm which was part of the Battle of the Somme. Although it was a victory for William and his unit, there were roughly 11,000 casualties as a result of the heavy artillery fire that reduced many buildings to rubble. The conditions did not make fighting any better for William as it was described as “rain and mud galore” by Lieutenant Percy Nuttall who was in the same unit as William.

William was later shifted to the 24th Field Artillery Brigade after serving in the 12th Brigade on the 4th of September 1916 in Beauval France. This Brigade was nicknamed the Howitzer Brigade as one of the main artillery weapons was the 105mm Howitzer (Figure 3). He was reassigned shortly after to the 4th division headquarters on the 13th of January 1917 which managed the planning and strategic side of the war. Roughly 8 months after his transfer, he was taken on strength whilst still in France.

William spent the next couple of months in Belgium with the 60th Battalion. During this time, he was admitted to hospital on the 12th of October 1917, with multiple boils likely because he did not change out of damp clothing enough, or did not have the right treatment on the battlefront. 

The final stage of William’s life at war took place in England. He was taken to hospital with boils again on the 12th of December in Liverpool and roughly a year later was admitted to Duston War Hospital on November the 3rd, 1918 due to influenza. William stayed in hospital for 25 days before he was discharged and transferred to Bulford training depot in Parkhouse. He was lucky to recover from the flu, a deadly disease that killed roughly 50 million people worldwide by the end of WW1.

After the conclusion of World War 1 on the 11th of November 1918, William studied Commercial Education in April 1919 whilst still in England. He returned home to his family in Australia during November 1919 with an overall service that was considered satisfactory. William was discharged from the Adelaide Termination of Period of Enlistment on the 11th of January 1920,  meaning that he had fulfilled his agreed service period and was formally released from military duties. He ended up marrying a woman called Mary Lillian Webbe and settled down in Largs Bay at a street with a fitting name – 528 Military Road. He died on September the 2nd, 1968 and was buried at Cheltenham Cemetery in South Australia at the old age of 75.

Bibliography

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·       author, D 2018, Pozières and Mouquet Farm | Sir John Monash Centre, Sir John Monash Centre, viewed 17 September 2024, <https://sjmc.gov.au/pozieres-and-mouquet-farm/>.

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·       Genge 2022, The battle for Mouquet Farm, Anzac Portal, viewed 18 September 2024, <https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/stories/australians-wartime/battle-mouquet-farm>.‌

·       Acton, C 2022, ‘Influenza pandemic’, Nma.gov.au, viewed 19 September 2024, <https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/influenza-pandemic#:~:text=An%20estimated%2050%20million%20people,the%20country%20in%20early%201919.>.

·       William Teague Pascoe Webbe | South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau 2024, Sa.gov.au, viewed 19 September 2024, <https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/soldier/william-teague-pascoe-webbe>.

·       ‌ 2024, Pearson-intl.com, viewed 19 September 2024, <https://reader-sin-prod.gls.pearson-intl.com/product/5a1c8c20bfdd5051821683b1>.