The David Laban Collection of Great War Awards

Five: Lieutenant Colonel S. W. Webster, 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers), late Yorkshire Dragoons Yeomanry

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (Lieut: S. W. Webster. 6 Drgn. Gds.) engraved naming; King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (Lieut: S. W. Webster. Drgn. Gds.) engraved naming; 1914 Star, with clasp (Major S. W. Webster. 6/D.Gds.); British War and Victory Medals (Lt. Col. S. W. Webster.) mounted as worn, light contact marks, overall good very fine (5) £600-£800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The David Laban Collection of Great War Awards.

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Samuel Wentworth Webster was born at Halifax in 1875, the only son of Mr. Isaac Webster, and grandson of Mr. Samuel Webster, founder of the firm Samuel Webster and Sons, Ltd., a brewers in Halifax of which he was a director. He was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Yorkshire Dragoons Yeomanry on 9 June 1896. Promoted Lieutenant on 2 March 1898, he served with the Yorkshire Dragoons until he was commissioned Lieutenant in the 6th Dragoon Guards on 20 December 1899. He served in South Africa throughout the Boer War; following the Boer War he remained in the army, and was promoted Captain on 9 August 1907 and Major on 1 May 1913.

Webster served throughout the Great War, landing with the British Expeditionary Force in France on 16 August 1914. He was appointed Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel on 14 December 1915, and was appointed to be second in command of the 6th Reserve Cavalry Regiment 27 March 1919. He retired on 1 January 1920, and was granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel. ‘Cambridge University Alumni’ states that he was mentioned in the Secretary of State's list for ‘valuable services rendered in connection with the War’.

Webster transferred to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers in April 1923. After leaving the army he resided at Gorsfield, Stansted Mountfitchett, Essex. He was adopted as the prospective Conservative and Unionist party candidate for Halifax, for the July 1928 by-election, but died shortly before on 10 May 1928.