BAPTISED:

10th May 1795 in Warrington

MARRIED:

2nd July 1815 to Ellen Travers at Warrington

KNOWN CHILDREN:

John (1816) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

Thomas (c1818) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

William (1820) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

Ellen (1823) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

Joseph (1827) - baptised at St. Elphin, Warrington

Jesse (1831) - baptised at Manchester Cathedral

Mary (c1834)

DIED:

27th June 1865 at 1 Wesley Street, Ancoats, Manchester.

Profession on death certificate - "Glass maker"

Biography

William Webb was born in 1795 to John Webb, and Martha Latham. His father John Webb was originally a weaver, but changed profession to glass grinder prior to 1810 His grandfather was Thomas Webb (c1729-1810).

William was involved with the Warrington glass industry. On the baptisms of his children in 1820 and 1823, he was listed as a glass maker of Winwick Street (view Google Map), and in 1827 a glass maker of Towns End. These addresses place him to the north side of Warrington. Although he lived close enough to the glass works at Warrington Bank Quay to work there, his address may suggest he worked at a different glass works on the north side of Warrington.

William had two brothers who worked as glass makers - Thomas (b1797) and John (b1801). Both lived in Winwick Street.

William moved from Warrington to Ancoats at a similar time to the Webbs of Molineaux & Webb. By 1829 he was already listed as a glass blower in a commercial directory of Manchester, living at Kirby Street adjacent to the Molineaux & Webb factory. His brothers remained in Warrington and continued to work in the glass industry there.

Although William never attained great prominence in the Manchester glass industry, his son Thomas Webb was a more significant figure who was a co-founder of the Manchester firm Ker & Webb. Descendants ran glass concerns in Manchester until at least the 1930s.

Further information on this can be found here: The Descendants of William Webb.

Selected entries in Manchester Commercial Directories

1829 - William Webb, glass blower, Kirby St

1832 - William Webb, glass blower, 13 Kirby Street

1836 - William Webb, glass blower, 27 Kirby Street

Linking William Webb to the Webbs of Molineaux & Webb

We have had to go a long way back through the Warrington parish registers to link the Manchester glass firms of Molineaux & Webb and Ker & Webb. Ultimately, 18th century links, explained in the biography of Thomas Webb (c1729-1810), can only be suggested by looking for matching names on the registers and joining the dots. It is useful therefore to list circumstantial reasons why we believe William had a family link to the Webbs of Molineaux & Webb. (note: 2017 update - various family trees on Ancestry confirm the research below was correct).

1) He moved from Warrington to Ancoats at the same time as the Webbs of Molineaux & Webb, and took an address across the road from the factory.

2) In 1831 he named a child Jesse, a rare name, but the same as a man we think is his cousin, Jesse Webb (1781-1851)

3) In 1843 his son John Webb was living at 1 Kirby Street, Ancoats at the time of his marriage. Jesse Webb died at this address in 1851.

4) On the 1851 census, his son John Webb was the next door neighbour of David Webb, a glass blower who was the eldest son of Jesse Webb.

5) William Isaac Webb (b1845), was the son of John Webb and therefore the grandson of William Webb. On the 1871 census, William Isaac Webb was living at 30 Tutbury Street, Ancoats, at the house of Jesse Webb (1811-1872), who was the second son of Jesse Webb (1781-1851).

6) Another grandson was called Thomas George Webb, sharing the same name as the man who ran Molineaux & Webb from the 1860s to the 1880s.

1841 CENSUS:

Job Title: Glass maker

Address: Kirby Street, Ancoats

Others: Living with wife and five children

1851 CENSUS:

Job Title: Glass blower

Address: Newton, Manchester

Others: Living with wife

1861 CENSUS:

Not located