Pte Albert Frank Webber

Albert was born in Brentwood in 1888, the son of a labourer who worked building and improving the roads. He grew up on Ongar Road and after leaving school he got a job working at the Great Eastern Hotel near the station on Warley Hill.

During the first world war he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and was sent to the western front. Unfortunately his military records are lost so there are no details of exactly when he joined up.

The 2nd Berkshires were part of the first day of the battle of the Somme, and Albert with his comrades would have gone over the top to attack Ovillers - a ruined town that had become a heavily defended German position. The attack was not successful and the 2nd Berkshires suffered heavy casualties - with 5 Officers killed, 7 wounded, 8 missing and of other ranks 73 killed or died of wounds, 251 wounded, and 93 missing. Albert was among those killed.

Attempts to take Ovillers would take over two weeks before finally succeeding, during which another Brentwood man, Edward Gordon Peecock, would also be killed when his battalion were assigned to the same task.