1 Laurel
Private Thomas David Webb
Thomas David Webb was born in Rotherhithe, London, England, on December 20, 1886. When in England, he served for four years in the 3rd Battalion and one year in the 4th Battery, of the Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regiment.
Thomas immigrated to Canada in 1908. He was employed as a bookkeeper when he enlisted and had previously been a linesman for Bell Telephone. He was living in Brantford. Despite his military service in England, he did not belong to an Active Militia at the time. He was attached to Unit 38th Regiment Dufferin Rifles on August 3, 1914 and on the 24th was on the 4th Battalion pay list. At the time he signed his attestation paper on September 22, 1914, at Valcartier, Quebec, he was 27 years old. He sailed from Quebec on October 7, 1914 on S. S. Tyrolia.
We do not know too much of his military service. He was serving with the 4th Battalion in France during the first weeks of March. On March 14, 1915 he was admitted to Rawal Pindi General Hospital in Wimereux, near Bouligne-sur-Mer, France for a gunshot wound to his right arm. On March 18, he had been transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Netley, Hampshire where he was discharged to sick furlough on April 13, 1915. A medical board found he was found fit for light duty. On June 11, 1915, at Shorncliffe Military Hospital in Kent, England, he was examined and found to have “disease of the eye and optic nerve” and was approved on June 23 to be discharged to Canada. He remained in the Discharge Depot in Quebec until September, 1915.
According to a Brantford Expositor article dated March 7, 1916, Thomas was given a position at the city hall to assist the City Clerk. The article stated that Mr. Webb has done his “bit” for his country, being wounded at the Battle of St. Julien, though this detail is unlikely since the battle took place from April 24 to May 4, 1915 when he was still in hospital. Thomas was living in Brantford working at the Post Office in 1916 when he married Nina Matthews. Their address was 298 Wellington St., Brantford, Ont. They later moved to a farm in Mount Pleasant and then, around 1938, to Paris. They lived at 1 Laurel Street.
In World War 2, the Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles of Canada mobilized for active service on May 24, 1940. It was later redesignated the 1st Battalion, The Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles of Canada. It served in Canada in a home defence role as part of the 17th Infantry Brigade, 7th Canadian Division. The Ministry of National Defense had established a force to be known as the Veterans Home Guard for the adequate protection of military property on the home front. Members would free younger men for overseas duty by replacing the Canadian Provost Corps, the military police of the Canadian Army, guarding facilities such as the 40 internment and POW camps operated across Canada during WW2. The battalion was disbanded on March 8, 1945. Thomas was a member of the Veterans Home Guard.
Private Thomas Webb died January 1, 1958 and is buried in the Paris Cemetery.