THE FASCINATING WEBB FAMILY STORY
Gill Baxter
In
March this year I received an email from Joseph Rosolino in New York.
He and his partner Gina had visited Lumber and Salt, an antique
salvage shop on the North Fork of Long Island and bought a
mathematics exercise book titled
Mr Church’s Academy Crosbie House (Frodsham),
dated 1852, belonging to Philip Webb. Joseph contacted our Archive
email address to find out more about Philip and his family.
This
is what I discovered…
Philip Webb senior, a widower, married Martha Prout on 8th February 1810 in Marloes, Chepstow, Monmouth, and their son Henry Philip Webb was born 29th September 1811. Philip Webb senior must have died, as on 21st April 1827, at St Laurence Church, his widow Martha Webb married John Williams, an Exciseman based at The King’s Head (now the Queen’s Head). This brought the Webb family to Frodsham. See the Webb family tree at the end of this article.
Their son, Henry Philip Webb, a mariner, married Eliza Grice, daughter of William Grice, a corn dealer and tanner of Frodsham, on 5th April 1836, at St Laurence Church. Philip Henry Webb, the owner of the exercise book, was born 15th February 1839.
In 1841 the Census was taken on the night of 6th June. Henry and Eliza were said to be living with her widowed mother, Mary Grice, next to the tannery at Brook House in Main Street. Mary was the owner of the Tannery which was run by her son John. Philip is not on this Census entry but unusually there is a second, duplicate entry for them on the 1841 Census, at a lodging house and shop in Dalrymple Street, Liverpool, near to the docks, where Eliza’s sister, Betty and her husband John Thompson lived. The Webb family, including Philip Henry, is recorded there.
Henry Philip Webb had previously been the captain of The Mary Ridgway and on 6th November 1841 he set out as captain of her sister ship, The Martha Ridgway, on a 5-month journey to New Zealand.
The Martha Ridgway, owned by John Ridgway, was constructed expressly for the passenger trade. It was launched in Liverpool in 1840.
The Martha Ridgway, a 3-masted schooner, just left of the flagpole in Wellington, New Zealand
© National Library of New Zealand
The Martha Ridgeway had had a checkered career. In 1840, under Captain Forbes, there was an outbreak of smallpox and it was the Martha Ridgway that brought the news that the settlement of Britannia, was to change its name to Wellington, after the Duke of Wellington
While Henry was away Eliza had another son, John William Webb, baptised 27th February 1842.
On the return voyage, the Martha Ridgway was wrecked on 27th August 1842 at Sir Charles Hardy Island, Torres Straits between Australia's Cape York Peninsula and the island of New Guinea. Captain Henry and six men were reported lost.
In 1844, some of the ship’s wreckage was used by convicts to build the Raines Islet Beacon, to the east of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia. The historic Beacon was added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992.
Captain Webb is remembered on gravestone OGB/01/11 at St Laurence Church and there is a further memorial in Chapel en le Frith.
On
31st
January 1850
Eliza Webb married James Shirt at St Laurence Church, Frodsham. James
was a journeyman
stonemason from Chapel-en-le-Frith. This was a second marriage for
both of them and they were living in Church Street Frodsham in 1851.
I was curious as to why James Shirt was in Frodsham. A newspaper
cutting from the Derbyshire Courier dated 3rd
January 1846
mentions
the
death of James Shirt’s first wife, when she was visiting him whilst
he was working as a Tunnel Inspector at Woodhead on the Sheffield and
Manchester Railway. So, perhaps James had moved to Frodsham when the
railway was under construction in 1849-50.
Philip Henry Webb stayed in Frodsham with his grandmother, Martha Williams, in High Street near Chapel Lane (Fluin Lane) whilst he was attending Mr. Church’s Academy. Sometime between 1851 and 1857 the Shirt family moved to Chapel-en-le-Frith with Philip, and William Grice, Eliza’s nephew, who was an apprentice stonemason. Philip is described as a warehouseman. Sadly, his brother, John William Webb, died in June 1857 aged 15.
Portrait of Frances Webb (nee Richards)
In 1851, Frances Richards was working for John Guest Williams of Main Street Frodsham as a Draper’s Assistant. Perhaps this was where Frances and Philip Henry met. On 10th January 1863 they were married in Nannerch, Flintshire, Wales. Interestingly her father Watkin Richards was a Revenue Officer.
Frances and Philip had two children, Martha Beatrice, and James Henry Philip.
Left: Martha Beatrice Webb born 1863
Below: James Henry Philip Webb born 1865
In 1871, the Shirt and Webb families lived in Furness Vale, in the Parish of Disley. Their home was an end-of-terrace house in Bank End known as Shirt’s Row. Nearby was Bank End Quarry where James Shirt worked as a Master Mason employing 25 hands. In 1871, Philip Henry Webb is a Manufacturer of Cotton Yarns.
The 1881 census shows Philip Henry as Proprietor of a Stone Quarry employing 16 men and 2 boys, and in 1891 he is described as a Stone Merchant living in Bank End. Kelly's Directories of 1892 and 1896 list Philip Henry Webb as stone quarry proprietor. The directories of 1901 and 1906 list his son, James Henry Philip Webb as proprietor.
Philip Henry died on 17th April 1899 at his home at 38 Duchess Road Edgbaston and was buried on 19th April at St Laurence Church, Frodsham. Probate was granted on 5th June to Frances Webb widow, Martha Beatrice Webb spinster, James Henry Philip Webb stone-merchant and the Reverend Frederick Haines, Wesleyan minister. Effects: £14,033 (£2,223,712 today*)
By 1901 Frances Webb is still living at the same address in Edgbaston and Martha is working as a Natural Science Mistress at Edgbaston High School for Girls, having studied natural sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge.
Martha Beatrice Webb is mentioned in the Edinburgh Post in 1908, as having qualified as the only female Doctor of Medicine from Edinburgh University. Martha spent her career as a G P in Edgbaston, researching into matters of women's health.
Martha’s mother, Frances Webb of Islington Row, Edgbaston, widow of Philip Henry, died 23 February 1917 and is buried in the family plot at St Laurence graveyard. Probate was granted on 3rd April to Martha Beatrice Webb. Effects: £250 (£37,893 today*).
In 1921 Martha is living at 6 Islington Row, Edgbaston with her two adopted nieces, Dorothy Morris Japp, a Medical Student at Birmingham University and Loën Isabel Mary Aldous, a Student at King Edward’s School Birmingham.
On the 1939 Register, Martha Beatrice Webb is retired and living at 36 High Brow, Birmingham. She died there on 14th February 1951. Probate was granted on 18th May to Mabel France and Eleanor Gladys Wright. Effects: £3,711 (about £143,747 today*)
L och Long, built 1876 by James & George Thomson Scottish Built Ships, Wikipedia
James Henry Philip Webb followed in his grandfather’s footsteps, sailing on the Orient Liner R.M.S. Austral from Tilbury to Sydney via Gibraltar at the end of August 1888, and to Australia again in January 1890 on the ship Loch Long as a Captain Rear Admiral.
James HP Webb married Ellen Pickford in January 1899 and in 1901 the family, now with six month old Philip Henry, is living at Buxton Road, New Mills. James HP is a Stone Merchant. A second child, Sidney Watkin Webb was born in 1908. In 1911 James HP and his family are living at Hockerley Lane, Whaley Bridge. They are still at Briar Cottage, Hockerley Lane, in 1921. Philip Henry junior joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1918 and was sent to Bristol.
The 1939 Register has James HP Webb and his family still living in Briar Cottage, Whaley Bridge. He had retired as a Stone Merchant due to ill health. Ellen, his wife, is a housewife; Sydney is a Rubber Research Chemist; Philip Henry junior is living in Manchester as a Textile Research Chemist and is single.
James HP Webb of Briar Cottage, Hockerley Lane, Derbyshire died on the 24th December 1952. He was buried at Fernilee Cemetery, High Peak. Derbyshire. Probate was granted on 12th February to his widow, Ellen Webb, and Philip Henry Webb textile chemist. Effects: £8,938. (about £317,145 today*).
Ellen Webb died on 9th July 1960, aged 85, and was buried with James at Fernilee Cemetery, High Peak, Derbyshire. Probate was granted on 4th October 1960 to Philip Henry Webb, Works Chemist, and Sidney Watkin Webb, also a Works Chemist. Effects: £6,529 (about £185,428 today*).
Philip Henry Webb, 42 Bradford Street, Bolton, died 19th December 1969. Probate was granted on 11th March 1970. Effects: £18,570 (about £376,934 today*).
Sidney Watkin Webb of Briar Cottage, 36 Hockerley Lane, Whaley Bridge, Stockport, Cheshire died 24th March 1989. Administration Manchester 20th December 1989. Effects: £138,823 (£425,930 today*).
Both Philip Henry and Sidney were buried in the family grave at Fernilee Cemetery.
And finally…
I forwarded my research to Joseph and Gina, who were delighted with the story that had enfolded. They generously donated several documents to F&DHS Archives including a handwritten copy of Philip Henry’s will, family photographs and original marriage certificates for James & Ellen Webb. The will showed that Philip Henry had invested in railways including The Great Central Railway, and the Manchester Ship Canal Company. Joseph and Gina also gave the Society the mathematical exercise book that had sparked the original enquiry. Philip Henry Webb obviously became an astute businessman, perhaps due to the tuition at Mr Church’s Academy, Crosbie House, Frodsham.
* www.officialdata.org/uk/inflation
The family of Philip Henry Webb
Martha Webb married John Williams in 1827
First wife of Philip
Ι
Henry Philip Webb married Eliza Grice in 1836 Eliza married James Shirt in 1850
1811-1842
Philip Henry Webb married Frances Richards John William Webb
1839-1899 Died 1917 1842-1857
Martha Beatrice James Henry Philip married Ellen Pickford
1863-1951 1865-1952
Philip Henry Sydney Watkin
1901-1969 1908-1989
Acknowledgements Thanks to Gina Vigliarolo and Joseph Rosolino for their thoughtful and generous donation. Thanks to Fiona Barry, Kath Gee and Sue Lorimer for assistance with this article. David Easton, Secretary and Archivist, Furness Vale History Society. Sue McGuire. Membership Secretary, Liverpool History Society. Lyn Helps, Chapel en le Frith History Society.
Further reading on Martha Beatrice Webb: https://furnesshistory.blogspot.com/2010/11/martha-beatrice-webb.html https://www.search.connectinghistories.org.uk/Details.aspx?&ResourceID=1516&PageIndex=45&SearchType=3 https://aim25.com/cats/8/7137.htm
