William Menzie Webb, 1879-1912: Combining Daring Vision and Courageous Action

 

Stewart Town Baptist Church

 

William Menzie Webb was born on January 12, 1839, at Southampton, near Brown's Town, St Ann, on a property belonging to Mr. J. Parry.

His father, William Webb (Sr.), was united in marriage to Jane Syms, who was born in Shillington, Central Bedfordshire, England. The wedding took place at a church in Aboukir, St. Ann, in 1838. Webb Sr. became manager of the Southampton Estate.  

Webb’s mother, a deeply devout woman, sought to bring up her son “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”  Webb spoke frequently of the godly influence his mother provided him during his childhood. Mrs. Webb was a member of the Brown’s Town Baptist Church. She was principally responsible for bringing up her children in an atmosphere marked by the daily reading of the Holy Bible and family worship morning and evening with father, children, servants and visitors participating.

When he was about six years of age, Webb’s parents removed to their own property in Alexandria, in the Dry Harbour Mountains. They owned parcels of land called Orange Vale and “The Mills.”

In those early years after emancipation, many parents longed for their children to receive a good education and this was one of the main concerns of Mr. Webb (Sr.). So, while his son was still young, when men from Britain travelled about the countryside seeking jobs as teachers and accountants, he hired an elderly Englishman, a Mr. Cousins, as William’s tutor. Cousins taught young Webb to repeat from memory the Church of England Catechism and he introduced him to Thomas Dilworth’s spelling book and other books of that class.

At ten years of age, Webb’s father took him to Falmouth, boarded him with a family of strict Church people, and enrolled him at the Kirk school, under Mr. William Miller, a Scotch teacher with an outstanding reputation. Young Webb remained there for three years and his progress was considered satisfactory. While at Falmouth, Webb paid close attention to the sermons of the learned and devout rector, Dr. Mc Grath. Webb was developing in the path of godliness and virtue.

When he was 13, Webb returned home to his parents with solemn thoughts of God and of God’s gift of salvation given through Jesus Christ. He shared his thoughts with his mother, which filled her with joy. She advised her son to contact Rev John Clark, the celebrated pastor of Brown’s Town and Bethany Baptist Churches, and let him know about his desire for baptism. In that same year, his thirteenth, Webb was baptized and received into the fellowship of the Bethany Church.

He remained at home for two years pursuing his studies, and in January 1854, when he was fifteen years of age, he applied and gained admission to the Mico institution, which was then under the leadership of Julius Oliver Beardslee, an American abolitionist who contributed to the introduction of the Disciples of Christ Church in Jamaica.

Over three years, Mr. Webb pursued his studies at the Mico. One of his outstanding teachers was   William Whitehorne, who succeeded Beardslee as principal of the institution. Webb left Mico with a first-class certificate when he was only eighteen. Then, at the invitation of Rev. Benjamin Millard, then Baptist Minister of St. Ann’s Bay, Webb took charge of the St Ann’s Bay Baptist Day School. Some of his students were young men and young women older than their teacher. They soon discovered that the teacher, although young, knew how to command respect, maintain discipline, and teach his pupils.

Webb was a strict and efficient teacher and the school flourished under his leadership. Soon, the student body moved from about 60 to more than 100 pupils. Mr. Millard recognized Webb’s exceptional gifts and not only placed his name in the church’s preaching plan, but offered to assist him in further studies. After two years of successful teaching work at St. Ann’s Bay, Webb applied for admission to Calabar Theological Institution, then located at Calabar, near Rio Bueno. He was admitted, and came under the influence of Rev. David Jonathan East, Calabar’s president.

At ten years of age, Webb’s father took him to Falmouth, boarded him with a family of strict Church people, and enrolled him at the Kirk school, under Mr. William Miller, a Scotch teacher with an outstanding reputation. Young Webb remained there for three years and his progress was considered satisfactory. While at Falmouth, Webb paid close attention to the sermons of the learned and devout rector, Dr Mc Grath. Webb was growing up in the path of godliness and virtue.

Over his four years at Calabar, Webb excelled in his studies and developed proficiency in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Theology and English Literature. East had the highest regard for Webb and looked forward to his future ministry with enthusiasm and optimism. 

When Webb completed the Calabar programme in December 1862, President East had temporary oversight of the Stewart Town Baptist Church, where Thomas Lea, William Knibb’s nephew, had just resigned the pastorate. East encouraged the church to invite Webb to be their minister. However, some of the deacons of the church and many of the members were not ready to have a Black minister and a young one at that. However, one of the deacons, Edward Samuels, a man of means and influence in the church, was in favour of Webb and promised that, if Webb were accepted as pastor, he would contribute to augment Webb’s salary. The people accepted the offer and, in March 1863, Webb became pastor in the Stewart Town circuit, which included the Gibraltar church. In protest, some members left the church, but returned later after realizing their folly. In November, 1863, Webb was ordained to the ministry and, with wisdom and zeal, he applied himself to the work of God.

Gibraltar Baptist Church

The Gibraltar Church was meeting for worship in an old coffee house when Webb became pastor there. Webb led them to erect a beautiful edifice which became the pride of the district. Church membership grew as people responded to the proclamation of the Gospel. Such was the rate of growth that, after a few years, Webb suggested that some of the members who had to walk for several miles to church should withdraw from the Gibraltar Church and form a church in Watt Town, some five miles away. One of the members, a Mr. Jarrett, donated land for the construction of a church building and the people, in appreciation, called the church Jarretton Baptist Church.

A visionary, Webb continued to plan for the expansion of the ministry of the churches he served. Recognizing that the Stewart Town church building was too small to accommodate the worshippers, he influenced some members of the church to unite in forming another church in the district of Keith, a few miles from Stewart Town. There they erected a church building which brought corporate worship in the community nearer to people who were not likely to travel on foot over the distance from Keith to Stewart Town.

   

William Webb

             

Keith Baptist Church

As an educator, Webb established schools in connection with the Gibraltar and Watt Town churches. The Watt Town school grew to become one of the largest A Grade schools in Jamaica.

Meanwhile, Webb observed that girls who were black were being denied a place in Secondary Schools in Jamaica. The impact of this injustice came to him more fully after the Knibb sisters admitted his own daughter and the daughter of a Black Presbyterian minister, both of whose parents were highly respected clergymen, to their school in Falmouth, Trelawny. The parents of the other students enrolled in the school threatened to withdraw all their children if the principal did not expel the young Black girls from the student body. When the Knibbs refused to bar the girls based on their colour, the parents withdrew their children thereby undermining the viability of the school.

 Webb decided he would do something to ameliorate the situation young Black girls faced in their dream of educational progress. He decided to establish a Secondary School for girls. He tried to secure support for his plan from the Jamaica Baptist Union. The matter was discussed in JBU for two years, 1878 and 1879, but with no positive outcome. So, Webb decided to start the school himself. George Henderson, Webb’s neighbouring pastor in Brown’s Town agreed to offer whatever help he could to make this ambitious effort succeed.

In 1880, after completing 17 years in the Stewart Town circuit, Webb visited England and Scotland and returned home by way of the United States.  Webb’s visit to England was for the purpose of advancing the education of his six children — three boys and three girls – and of securing the cooperation of wealthy philanthropists and influential persons in England in the founding of a school for girls in Jamaica. Webb’s initiative met with success.

In 1880, the Trelawny School for Girls was started with one teacher and six students. They met in a house at Manchester Pen, near Stewart Town, that Webb rented. Miss Annie Fray, one of William Knibb’s grand-daughters was appointed principal and teacher. Hardly could anyone dream of what the future that was in store for this constructive project.

This “Manchester Girls’ School,” as it was called, later became “The Trelawny Girls' School” and the school population grew. When the school outgrew the original space, Webb oversaw the purchase for £2000 of a nine-acre plot of land and had it cleared for a new school plant.

The following are some of the main persons in England whom God moved to support Webb’s plan to establish a high school for girls:  Dr. and Mrs. Trestrail of Newport, Isle of Wight; Mrs. Harvey, Mrs. Sturge and Mrs. Millard of Birmingham. Many other well-known Christian ladies, who formed themselves into a committee to assist in the good work also joined in supporting Webb’s dream. As time passed, women from other than Baptist churches joined the effort. As a result, within three years, the school’s supporters in England established a Trust for what was renamed Westwood High School for Girls. The Trust Deed identified four trustees to be appointed for the school. These should represent Baptist, Anglican, Wesleyan and Presbyterian denominations. They also sent out a Miss McKenzie as Principal Teacher.

When the new school buildings were completed in 1895, the English sponsors sent out Miss Alice Townsend to work as Lady Principal of the school. In 1913, the school being regarded as having been fully established, the supporters in England disbanded and left the institution to marshal its own resources for its operational and future development.

It was not long before Miss May Jeffrey-Smith succeeded Miss Townsend as School principal and government recognized the institution and included it among those schools receiving a grant from Public Funds. Today, Westwood is among the leading Girls’ Schools in Jamaica.

Religion and education were not the only spheres of Webb’s concern. He cared about the day-to-day life of the people in the communities he served. He accepted chairmanship of the committee that  negotiated  the  purchase of  the track  through  Stetten in the Ulster  Spring district.  Webb succeeded in negotiating with the vendors agreement to accept the amount agreed on as sufficient compensation for all deviations that were found to be necessary when the Government was ready to make a cart road through that important district. This arrangement saved Sir Henry Blake's Government several hundred pounds, which would certainly have been claimed for the deviations.

In 1901, a general election was called. Influential persons in the parish of Trelawny prevailed on Webb to offer himself for election to the Legislative Council as their parish representative. Webb agreed to place his services at the disposal of the electors and won election by a wide margin. In the next election, he was elected unopposed. After serving two terms, Webb stepped away from consideration for a more extended role as member of the Legislative Council of Jamaica.

While in the Legislative Council, one of the projects Webb championed was the widening and deepening of the Falmouth harbour. Sir Alexander Swettenham and his Government were opposed to this project, but Webb secured the co-operation of the other elected members of the Legislative Council and the project was approved and implemented.

Another project on which Webb worked hard was the effort to get changes made to the laws concerning the issue of bastardy and the marriage question. He made representation that secured the appointment of a committee that met on several occasions and reported to the Legislative Council. This resulted in a single publication of banns of marriage becoming sufficient and reducing the cost of a marriage licence. Despite his vigorous effort, however, Webb failed in convincing the Council to amend the law to enable the legitimizing of children born out of wedlock when their parents got married. In addition, he was unsuccessful in securing the legislative change needed to make it possible for ministers who are marriage officers to officiate at the wedding of a man and woman “living together in sin” and well known in all respects to the minister, without the need for the publication of banns. Webb’s other disappointment was connected to both his advocacy for the raising of salaries of underpaid workers in the public service, including telegraph operators and postmistresses. His call for the introduction of a more desirable system of elementary education also went unheeded.

Webb also served in the Parochial Board of Trelawny and was its Chairman from 1906 to 1909. It is noteworthy that, one of Webb’s grandsons, Mr. H. L. Arnett, occupied the position of Chairman of the Trelawny Parochial Board from July 1935, and was also a member of the Board of Supervision.

Throughout his ministry, Webb had the help and support of Georgia Webb, his wife. Without this, he would not have been able to accomplish as much as he did. Webb’s accomplishments justified the confidence Calabar Principal East had placed in him.

After several months of lingering illness, Webb died on Saturday, July 27, 1912 at the age of 74 . The cause was heart disease. He was mourned by his wife, Georgia, and their children – Henry (b. 1906), William Agustus (b.1907), Edna Silvia (b. 1909), Florence (b. 1912), Robert Barkley (b. 1913), Ruby Amelia (b. 1915) – his parishioners and many other Jamaicans.

Eleven years after her husband’s passing, Webb’s wife, Georgia Louise, died on April 27, 1923 at Norwood, near Falmouth, the home of her daughter, Mrs. Emilie Harris, at whose home she resided since the death of her husband. The three churches in Stewart Town tolled their bells. They remembered how, in her younger days, Mrs. Webb would sometimes be seen riding side by side with her husband among to the rocky heights of Gibraltar to visit the sick, establish class houses, etc. They remembered also the maternal care Mrs Webb gave to the Westwood students especially in the early days of the school. After the death of her husband, Mrs. Webb, in contributing to the building work started by Webb’s successor, Rev. Joseph Thrift, cancelled the debt of £200 that the church owed her husband. At her funeral, Rev Gordon Somers officiated, and Rev. G. E. Henderson delivered the sermon.