BORN:

c1753, probably in Davenham, Cheshire

MARRIED:

Grace Baden (1758-1805) on 27th May 1781 at St. Elphin, Warrington.

KNOWN CHILDREN:

Jesse (1781) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

Mary (1783) - baptised at Latchford Chapel, Cheshire. Died 1784.

Nancy (1785) - baptised at Latchford Chapel, Cheshire. Died 1786.

Priscilla (1790) - baptised at Latchford Chapel, Cheshire. Died 1792.

Thomas (1792) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington. Died 1793.

Maria (1794) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

Thomas (1796 or 1797) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

DIED:

23rd May 1839 at Mill Street, Ancoats, Manchester.

Profession on death certificate - "Glass maker"

Biography

Thomas Webb was probably born in Davenham, Cheshire with his family moving to Warrington when he was an infant. We believe his father was a glass worker, based at a glass works at Warrington Bank Quay. Thomas Webb also entered the glass industry, we presume working at Bank Quay and later at the firm of Perrin & Geddes once it was established in 1795.

In 1781, Thomas married Grace Baden at St. Elphin, Warrington. They baptised some of their children there, but also used Latchford St. James on the south side of the river Mersey. Three of their children survived childhood; glass blower Jesse, Molineaux & Webb co-founder Thomas, and Maria who married into the Percival family.

We can only guess at the career of Thomas Webb, but there are plenty of hints that the Webb family rose to prominence during his years in the glass industry. The name Thomas reverberates all over the family tree going forward, and just as notably, so does the name of his wife, Grace Baden.

To date, four Badens have been discovered descended from Grace Baden:

Thomas Webb (b1753) -> Jesse Webb (b1781) -> Jesse Webb (b1811) -> Thomas Webb (b1848) -> Baden Webb (b1881)

Thomas Webb (b1753) -> Maria Webb (b1794) -> Maria Ann Percival -> Baden Hamilton (c1850s) - first one died, another named Baden Hamilton born later

Thomas Webb (b1753) -> Thomas Webb (b1796) -> Thomas George Webb (b1828) -> Baden Webb (b1852)

Was this done to further honour Thomas Webb or was Grace Baden herself of importance to the Webb story? Unfortunately the history of the Baden family is unclear. Grace Baden was not baptised at St. Elphin Warrington, and it has not proved possible to positively identify her siblings or parents from the parish registers. Those Badens that are listed at St. Elphin tend to be mariners, which could mean anything from Mersey fisherman to New World explorer sailing from Liverpool. The name Baden would indicate a Germanic past but none of the Badens in Warrington carry a Germanic Christian name.

A family heirloom survives from Thomas' time in the glass industry. In the possession of Pamela Webb until her death was a brass snuff box inscribed:

Thomas Webb

Glass Maker

WARRINGTON

1802

Image courtesy of R. Dodsworth

This item is now resides with the Manchester Art Gallery collection, and a more recent image of the same object can be found here. Also in the Webb items obtained by the Art Gallery was a token inscribed "T*W 1774". Incidentally, both of these items could actually belong to his father Thomas Webb, who lived until 1810.

Ice cream Pail dated circa 1815, at the V&A Museum London

Speculatively identified as a Perrin & Geddes piece by the museum

So what was the trigger that catapulted the Webbs into the front line of the local glass industry? Did Thomas have a keen business brain? Did the Badens have significant wealth? Was it the marriage of his daughter into the Percival family? Or did 70 years in the Warrington glass industry achieve some sort of critical mass of experience for the Webbs? We can only speculate.

Once Perrin & Geddes folded in the 1820s, all of Thomas' children moved to Ancoats. He either went with them or joined later, and it is possible that his experience was of some use in the early days of Molineaux & Webb. Thomas died on Mill Street, Ancoats in 1839 at the great age of 86. Although his grave has not been located, his son Thomas Webb laid a memorial stone in his honour at Manchester General Cemetery.

Memorial Stone to Thomas Webb at Manchester General Cemetery