Daniel Webb
Mayor of Oxford 1700/1, 1706/7, 1712/13, and 1714/15
Daniel Webb (or Webbe) (c.1660–1723) was a painter and stainer. He may be the Daniel Webb of All Saints parish who married Anne Hawkins of Wolvercote at St Mary Magdalen Church on 23 February 1678/9.
Webb lived in Catte Street in the parish of St Mary the Virgin, but is described as of All Saints parish at the time of his death, which makes it likely that he is the Daniel Webb who had the following children, and who appears to have moved to All Saints in about 1697:
- Elizabeth (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 11 March 1685/6)
- Daniel (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 18 October 1692)
- Thomas (baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 20 June 1694)
- William (born of 15 October 1696, baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin on 26 October 1696)
- Elizabeth in (baptised at All Saints Church on 1 August 1698).
Webb was selected as Mayor’s Child by the new Mayor, Richard Hawkins, in September 1689 and was sworn in, paying 3s. 4d. for not being head constable. He took up his Chamberlain’s place in 1690.
Anthony Wood reports that on 26 November 1691 the illuminations to celebrate the taking of Limerick and the reduction of Ireland "began at the upper end of Cat Street about 5 or 6 of the clock in the evening by Dan. Webb [and others] in Dan Webb’s old house." Wood also states how in 1694 Webb made the escutcheons for a memorial in High Wycombe.
In 1696 Webb paid tax on a property with ten windows in the parish of St Mary the Virgin.
In September 1694 Webb was elected Junior Bailiff, in November 1699 Mayor’s Assistant, and in 1700 Mayor, selecting Greenway Curtice, a watchmaker, as his Child.
Webb took on John Walter as an apprentice in May 1701, but the apprenticeship was cancelled by mutual consent in December 1703.
Webb resumed his role as Assistant, and on 23 April 1702 he was one of the six people attending the Mayor at the Coronation of Queen Anne. In September 1706 he was appointed Mayor a second time, selecting Charles Prince as his Child. In that same month he took on as an apprentice William Webb, who is described as the son of William Webb of Lillington in Warwickshire and may well have been a relation. In August 1709 he took on another apprentice, Richard Witherington.
In September 1712 he was appointed Mayor a third time, selecting William Hughes, a butcher, as his Child.
In September 1714 Webb was again appointed Mayor, "he having consented thereunto notwithstanding any former act to the contrary". On 20 October 1714 he attended the coronation of George I at Westminster in the customary role of butler, and was knighted on the occasion.
Webb returned to his position as Assistant, and was elected Barge Commissioner in May 1716.
In March 1717 Webb took on another apprentice, John Bignell (who, when Webb died, was transferred to Webb’s former apprentice Witherington, who may have taken over his business).
Peshall mentions a portrait of Sir Daniel Webb that used to hang in a meeting room in the old Guildhall.
Webb died in 1723 and on 22 May was buried at All Saints Church, where a tablet was erected in his memory. Thomas Hearne described him as:
a Man of excellent good sense … and of great Humanity. He was a Painter by trade, but his Circumstances were but mean, occasion'd by his Customers (many of wch were Country Gentlemen), who were backward in paying him.
See also:
- Malcolm Graham, Oxford City Apprentices 1697–1800, entries numbered 131, 513, 661, and 987
- Oxford University Archives, Ref. 1718 WPα/31/35: Extract from lease to Sir Daniel Webb, 2 September
- PCC Will PROB 11/596 (Will of Sir Daniel Webb of Oxford, proved 16 March 1724)