Find a Grave soldier's memorial

[CassieP]

Hi Andy

I think you are like me when it comes to this research ... like a dog with a bone!  It is very satisfying to get to the bottom of Arthur's military history, but would be even better if I could contact a relative to find out personal things about his life.  His death certificate shows he was a theatre manager later in life and sounds such an interesting person, there will be so much more to be said about him than I can find in online records. 

I had a quick look at applying for service records from the MOD.  When I sent for those of my father and uncle a few years ago, they were I think only available to next of kin.  I had to get my uncle's daughter in the USA to sign the application - as it is, she was interested to see them too so there was no problem.  It looks now that you don't need to be next of kin and perhaps this is because they are becoming available in the National Archives.  I can't find that Arthur's are in the National Archives unfortunately and the MOD warn that it takes about a year for applications to them to be processed.

Please can I ask one more favour!  Can you confirm I am correct in referring to Arthur as Lieutenant Arthur Charles Webb, Royal Artillery?

Many thanks
Carole 

[Andy J2022]

Hi Carole,

Yes, the form of address is correct.

As for his officer service record, you won't find it at TNA because there are currently no plans to transfer officers' records to them. This means that since the MOD now have fewer soldiers' records to deal with, processing officers' documents may be speedier than previously. Also officers' documentation was handled by separate sections of the MOD to the soldier records, which may also help speed up the process. I am not sure if his officer records will include his former soldier service details. If not, you could do a (free) FoI request to TNA for his soldier records using his number 875756. We have no idea of his rank before he was commissioned (not that it is necessary since you have his Army number) but I wouldn't be surprised if he was a bombardier (Corporal).

The theatre manager detail is interesting. Only so many theatres in the South East!

[CassieP]

Hi Andy

Thanks for the confirmation. 

Yes the theatre manager occupation is fascinating, and I wonder if it was a West End theatre!

Carole

[Andy J2022]

Canterbury (assuming that is where he was then living) is quite a commute to the West End. Also, can you give me his address on his death certificate, which I assume was in Surrey?

[Andy J2022]

I found a bit more detail about Arthur.

He is listed (along with Myrtle who had died in December 2001) in the 2002 electoral register at Flat 4, Higham Lane, Canterbury, CT4 5AY. This is substantially the same address as he gave when applying to join the Burma Star Association in May 1982, namely Flat 4, Bridge Hill House, Higham Lane, Bridge, Canterbury, Kent. Since he would have been aged 65 in 1982 I think it’s reasonable to assume that he and Myrtle remained at that address until her death, and sometime after 2002 he moved to Surrey, either to be nearer to his son Charles or to go into a home or sheltered housing as he would have been aged 84 in early 2002.

The other development is finding two cuttings from the Bedford Record dated April and May 1958 which mention an Arthur Webb as manager of the Royal County Theatre. One article also mentions that he was previously an actor with the Northamptonshire Repertory Company. The Royal County Theatre closed in 1960 and so presumably he was out of job. Today the theatre building is the Mount Zion Pentecostal Church. You can see a photograph of the auditorium from its days as a 1960s bingo hall here on Flickr. According to one website “The Heritage Library at Bedford Central Library holds a collection of Royal County Theatre programmes 1940-58”. Also, Bedfordshire Archives has at least one theatre programme from 1959. A much earlier 1948 programme, for sale on a theatrical memorabilia site, shows that Arthur was not the manager ten years earlier. Some of the productions when Arthur was manager are listed here.

It appears that the Northamptonshire Repertory Company no longer exists today and I haven’t found any mention of Arthur in connection with them.

If you have access to Ancestry, it might been worth checking their electoral register catalogue for Bedfordshire in the 1950s to see if he and Myrtle were living in the area. I have no idea where they might have been and what Arthur was doing between 1960 and 1982.

And lastly for this update, I am wondering if he was in the Preston area in 1941 where he met and married Myrtle. According to the timeline I linked to earlier 11 RHA were in the Surrey/Berkshire area in 1941, so perhaps he was still with 58th LAA Regt at the time he married. Does his marriage certificate give a unit and or address for him? A plausible explanation may be that Myrtle was working away from home, near where he was stationed and they just returned to her parents home for the wedding. Her occupation in September 1939 was professional dancer (travel) so maybe she had joined ENSA at the start of the war and was visting the troops.

Incidentally, FindMyPast has copies of the Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) Journal for the period 1923-2021, but Arthur Webb is not mentioned anywhere within the journals. 11 RHA was formed from the HAC

[Andy J2022]

Last few crumbs for today.

Having said I couldn't find any mention of Arthur in connection with the Northants Repertory Company, I now have three, one of which leads us off in another direction. In August 1949 the Stage reported that former Northants Rep actor Arthur Webb was now the licensee of the Wheatsheaf Inn, Weedon, Northants.

And another cutting from May 1958 - this time the Stage again - refers to Arthur as the front of house manager at the Royal County.

[willsy]

I think this is her, father W. A. Glenister

[CassieP]

Thank you so very much Andy and willsy, I am overwhelmed by all this fabulous information you have found!  Crumbs???  A whole three tiered cake I'd say!!!  I had a feeling that Arthur had an interesting life, and so he had.  How interesting he worked at BBC Midlands as I'm from the Midlands (Worcestershire).  The article with the photograph of Myrtle is just incredible and her photograph is gorgeous.  Wow!  Just ... wow!! 

[Andy J2022]

Hi Carole,

I spent about an hour today on Ancestry in my local library, trying to find Arthur and Myrtle in the Bedfordshire Electoral registers for the 1950s, without success. Basically none of the Arthur C Webb entries were him, and there were far too many Arthur Webbs to search them all.  A search on 'Arthur Webb' with 'Myrtle' as the optional detail, and 'Myrtle E Webb' on her own also provided no leads. Of course the fact he was working in Bedford in 1958 doesn't mean that he had to be living in the county, so he might equally have been living in Northants since he was previously with their repertory company.

The only thing of interest that I did find was that in the 1921 Census when he was shown as aged 4 years exactly, and living with his parents in his maternal grandfather's home at 84 Duke Street, Chelmsford. His grandfather (Albert Arthur Barnaschina) was a public house manager - perhaps a foreshadowing of Arthur becoming a licensee in 1949.

Incidentally there is a family tree on Ancestry (the Webb family tree) which includes some basic details (dates of births, marriage, deaths) for Arthur and Myrtle but which otherwise I would say was unreliable - for instance it had Arthur in an isolation hospital in Gravesend with the trade of engineer, based on a random entry in the 1939 register, just because the other Arthur Webb was born in 1917. Obviously we know that 'our' Arthur was probably already embodied at that point and therefore wouldn't show up the Register. 

Do you have any thoughts on his son Charles W having his birth registered in Hampstead in 1950?