Royal Naval Reserve
According to Joseph Webster’s Service Record in the National Archives (ADM 188/114) he was born at Over, Gloucester on 29 September 1860. However, it has not proved possible to verify this via Ancestry.
He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second class on 26 February 1877 and worked his way up through the ranks until his appointment as a Petty Officer First Class on 9 November 1895. It appears that he left the Navy in October 1903, after approximately twenty-five years service.
Joseph rejoined the service on 2 August 1914 (either as a volunteer or called up as a Reservist) and spent the war in various shore establishments until 9 April 1918, when he was invalided out, for reasons unknown.
According to the CWGC Register, Webster was a Royal Naval Reserve Coastguard at Tol- pedn – Penwith Station at Porthcurno, Cornwall. It quotes his age on death as 63, which would have made his year of birth 1857, rather than the 1860 stated in his service record. He died at Gloucester on 26 August 1920. His death notice in the Gloucester Journal of 4 September 1920 confirms his age of 63 and states his address to be Rose Villa, Priory Road, Gloucester. His grave is marked by a standard CWGC headstone.
The CWGC Register also states that he ‘Served in the Egyptian Campaign’.
Researched by Graham Adams 10 April 2014 (revised)