Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 60.djvu/108

 Webb borough remarked that Webb and Cadogan had behaved well, ‘as they always do.’ Unfortunately, in a communication to the ‘London Gazette,’ Adam [de] Cardonnel [q. v.], the duke's secretary, assigned all the credit of the engagement to Cadogan, who was known to be a staunch whig and a rising favourite on Marlborough's staff. This version of the affair lost nothing at the hands of a partisan like Steele, who was at this time editor of the ‘Gazette.’ Webb asked and obtained leave to take home to the queen a true account of the engagement, and his brief narrative was printed. He was not averse from posing as the martyr of whig malevolence, and he became the hero of the hour. He received the order of Generosity from the king of Prussia, and the thanks ‘in his place’ of the House of Commons (13 Dec.)

Arbuthnot was clearly alluding to Webb's treatment when, in the ‘Art of Political Lying,’ he explains how ‘upon good occasion a man may even be robbed of his victory by a person that did not command in the action;’ and the opposition generally endeavoured to make political capital out of what they represented as a great tory victory, in much the same way that thirty years later the opposition extolled Vernon ‘for doing with six ships’ what Walpole's admiral ‘could not do with twenty.’ Malignity went so far as to hint that, jealousy apart, the Duke of Marlborough was grievously chagrined by the repulse of the French at Wynendaele, inasmuch as he had entertained the offer of an enormous bribe payable upon the frustration of the siege operations which would have ensued upon the failure of the convoy.

Webb was promoted lieutenant-general on 1 Jan. 1709, and on 27 March, through the good offices of Harley, to whom he attached himself, he was granted a pension of 1,000l. a year pending more lucrative employment under the crown. The same autumn he fought at Malplaquet in the division of the prince of Orange, along with Lord Orkney and General Meredith, on the right of the ‘premier ligne’ (see plan, ap., 1709, ii. 247). In the report addressed to the States-General, which set out the allied loss at twenty thousand, he was stated to be among the dead (ib. p. 526); in fact, he received severe wounds which crippled him for life. Swift mentions the fact of his walking with a crutch and a stick to support him (Journal to Stella; cf., vi. 582).

Webb, who was a fine figure of a man before he was incapacitated by his wounds, and had been described by a poetaster of the past As Paris handsome and as Hector brave, was for the time being the idol of the populace, and during the summer of 1710 he contemplated putting up for Westminster against the whig candidate, General Stanhope. When, however, in August he was offered the post of captain and governor of the Isle of Wight, he thought fit to accept the offer (, Hampshire, iii. 92). With the governorship went the safe seat of Newport, for which borough he was duly returned on 6 Oct. 1710; he had hitherto, since 1690, sat for the borough of Ludgershall. He voted steadily for Harley and the tories, and cultivated the good graces of Swift as the literary champion of his party. In January 1712 he was one of the first to pay his respects to Prince Eugène upon his arrival at Leicester House (, p. 535). On 16 June 1712 he was promoted general and nominated commander of the land forces in Great Britain. Upon the overthrow of the tories Webb was not only deprived of his posts, but was in 1715 forced to sell out. George I, who had fought by his side at Oudenarde and admired his bravery, remonstrated, but was ‘brought to reason’ by the triumphant whigs (Wentworth Papers). Webb was again returned for the family borough of Ludgershall in 1715 and on 24 March 1721–2. During the trial of Christopher Layer [q. v.] in November 1722, Webb's name was mentioned in connection with a Jacobite association known as ‘Burford's,’ and thenceforth he found it expedient to live in strict retirement (Hist. Reg. 1723, p. 69, ib. Chron. Diary, 1724, p. 52).

Webb died in September 1724, and was buried on 9 Sept. in the north transept of Ludgershall church, in the nave of which his hatchment still hangs. He was twice married: first, to Henrietta, daughter of Williams Borlase, M.P. for Great Marlow, and widow of Sir Richard Astley of Patshull (she died 27 June 1711); and, secondly, in May 1720, to Anne Skeates, a ‘widow,’ who must have been a comely person, seeing that, although of illegitimate birth, she was thrice married, the third time after Webb's death to Captain Henry Fowke or Fookes; she was buried at Ludgershall on 8 April 1737, having survived all her husbands. By his first wife Webb left two sons—Edmund, ‘a captain in Ireland,’ and Borlase Richmond, M.P. for Ludgershall, who inherited most of his father's property, and died without issue in March 1738—besides five daughters. By his second wife he left