Category Archives: Royal Berkshire Regiment

Ernest Arthur Webb

Army, Commemorated name/s, Primitive Methodists' Memorial, Pulsometer Engineering, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Ernest Arthur Webb
Private 10510 “B” Company
5th Batt. Royal Berkshire Regt.

Division 3 

Webb EA CIMG2083

Ernest Arthur Webb is commemorated on the headstone of the family grave.  He was initially reported missing and later as killed in action on the 3rd July 1916 during the Somme campaign.  He had his 21st birthday on the 1st July 1916, the first day of the battle when Britain lost more men in one day than at any time before or since.

Ernest Webb has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial to the missing.  Pier and Face 11D.

Webb EA name

 

Ernest was the eldest son of Arthur and Jane Webb, of 55, Queen’s Road, Reading. (late 221 Southampton St.) The 1911 census indicates that he had four siblings. Two older sisters and two younger brothers. At the time he was an apprentice driller at the engineering company. This company was Pulsometer Engineering and his name is commemorated on their war memorial. Pulsometer Engineering was the company where Trooper Frederick Owen Potts, the Reading V.C., also worked.  Arthur Webb worked in the sugar wafer department and sister Daisy was a teapacker in the tea warehouse.

William Henry Ware

Army, Commemorated name/s, Royal Berkshire Regiment

William Henry Ware
Private 203634
2nd Royal Berkshire Regiment.

 Division 82 Extension

William Henry Ware was the eldest son of William and Alice Ware, of 50, Leopold Road, Orts Road, Reading.   He was the husband of Beatrice Nellie Bull (formerly Ware nee Ward), of 62, Leopold Road, Orts Road, Reading. The couple  married in February 1911. 

The 1901 census shows William to have four younger brothers. The family were then living at 44, Albert Road, Reading. His father was a general labourer. In 1911, William was working at the Upper Ship Hotel, Duke Street and his occupation was described as ‘under boots’. The hotel had two under boots and one head boots. William, then aged 20, was married at the time of the census. Beatrice was still living with her family at 44, Hoisier Street, Reading.

William is commemorated on his parents grave, number 17776. The Berkshire Family History Society classification is 82A7. Therecord notes that Private Ware was serving with the 4th Royal Berkshire Regiment.  The 4th Battalion was a Territorial Battalion and it is probable that he was moved into the 2nd Battalion in a draft to make up battalion numbers. Private Ware was remembered ‘In Memoriam’, 16th August 1919, by his two brothers Harold (full name Frederick Harold Ware), who had served as a Corporal in the Royal Army Service Corps, in France and Wally (full name Walter Redvers Ware) who served in the Royal Navy on H.M.S. Idaho.  His brothers referred to him by the family name of ‘Timmy’.

 William Ware was first reported as missing and later as killed in action on the 16th August 1917, aged 27.  On this day the Allies attacked on a 9 mile front north of the Ypres Menin Road, crossing Steenbeek River and capturing all its objectives.  This was part of what was known as the Third Battle of Ypres. Private Ware has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing. 

Ware WH name

Hermon Tostevin & Fred Tostevin

Army, Navy, Registered War Grave, Royal Berkshire Regiment

Hermon Tostevin
Sergeant 7856 Depot,
Royal Berkshire Regiment

 War Plot Division 71 & 72

Tostevin H photo Tostevin F says S photo

Hermon Tostevin was the son of Annie and Charles Henry Tostevin, of 21 Elm Park Road, Reading.  He died on November 16th 1917 aged  32.  His name is recorded on the screen wall in the War Plot. The cause of death is not known nor full details of his military career. In 1901 Herman, then 16,  was an inmate at Kenniston Reform School, Thorndon, Suffolk. Ten years later, in 1911, he was serving with the 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment in India. His occupation is given as soldier and clerk.

 Fred Tostevin was the brother of Hermon. Fred served with the Devon Regiment. He was reported missing and later drowned on the HMS Arcadian on 15th April 1917, he was aged 24.  His name can be found on the Mikra Memorial  in Greece.

Fred Tostevin had work for Huntley Bourne and Stevens for ten years before the war.  The 1911 census indicates that an older brother Henry also worked at the tin factory and younger sister Winnifred worked at the Huntley and Palmer’s biscuit factory. (The caption refers to “S” Tostevin)

 In Memoriam in the Standard November 16th 1918 stated:

Loving sons, brothers kind,
Beautiful memories left behind.

In 1919:

At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.

From their loving Mother, brothers and sisters.