| 4. | Charles William Webber was born on 12 Sep 1772 in Park Street, London, England (son of Samuel Webber and Frances Parker); died on 27 May 1846 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried on 29 May 1846 in Grahamstown Cemetery (Old Baptist), Eastern Cape, South Africa. Other Events and Attributes:
- Name: Charles William Webber 1826
- Occupation: Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; a Tailor
Notes:
from A Small World, by Norma van As:
In the year 1820, two British settlers, who were destined to play a part in the fortunes of the Webber family, sailed for the Cape Colony. They were Thomas Young, a farmer of Yorkshire, cousin to the Webber brothers Charles and Samuel of London, and William Shepherd, who was to return to England in 1825 in order to organise a new party of settlers.
By the year 1825 many of the original Albany settlers were reasonably well-established. Some of their most pressing difficulties, apart from the ever-present threat of attack by native bands, had been resolved. Many had left their original locations and moved to Grahamstown, Uitenhage or Algoa Bay, where they resumed their old trades or turned their hand to such occupations as would bring them a living. Certainly, the economic climate was not as depressed as it had been when the 1819 and 1820 settlers arrived. There was now a demand for housing, for shops to provide food, clothing and farming implements, and for better roads and means of communication. Further, the settlers were beginning to participate in civic affairs. Reports of conditions at this time evoked a picture of hopeful progress and the possibility of eventual prosperity in the Colony. The memories of hardships, disasters and rigours endured were eclipsed by a new spirit of optimism.
At about this time, Charles and Samuel Webber in far-off London became interested in settling in Albany, encouraged, no doubt, by their cousin Thomas Young.
Charles, three times married, with a family of six children ranging in age from nineteen years to a babe in arms, was a sober, strict and highly-principled Baptist, by trade a tailor and draper of Bond Street, London. He had lived at one time in Tottenham Court Road and later occupied a comfortable residence at No. 34 Cirencester Place (now Great Titchfield Street) in the division of Portman Square, Parish of Marylebone, Middlesex. This house was demolished in 1971, with all those comprising that block, in order to make way for the erection of the Great Regent Hotel facing on to Carburton Street, which now stands upon the site. Charles Webber's house stood where the ramp to the hotel basement garage has been constructed. Bomb damage during World War II had been severe in the area, but Charles' old home remained untouched.
Samuel, Charles' junior by some fifteen years, occupied premises at 84 East Street, Manchester Square, Marylebone - not a great distance removed from the home of his elder brother. Samuel was a cheesemonger by trade. He had spent thirteen years in the Merchant Navy before marrying and settling down to life ashore, but always hankered after adventure. No doubt he found life in London somewhat dull in the days of peace which followed upon the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.
It is not known what made the two brothers decide to leave England and risk all in a new and unknown land. Samuel, with his expansive, generous and extrovert nature would have thought little of uprooting his wife and family of five children, but Charles, by far the more serious-minded of the two, must have given the matter much thought before deciding to join his younger brother in such a venture. Without doubt, business in England in the tailors' and drapers' business was not as flourishing as it had been during the Napoleonic Wars when there was a constant demand for military and naval uniforms, but Charles was ever a careful and resourceful man and would no doubt have ridden out the economic depression had he elected to remain in England.
Whatever the personal reasons which lay behind their decision, it is clear that Samuel was eager from the start to emigrate. The manner of their departure from England came about in this fashion: for various reasons, some men amongst the 1820 settlers had left their wives and children at home. They now felt able to support them and desired to be reunited with their families. Others, amongst them Thomas Young, wished various relatives in England to join them in the Colony. William Shepherd, of Sephton's Party, who had settled at Salem, agreed to organise such a party.
Once arrived in England, Shepherd struggled from July 1825 until well into 1826 in an effort to persuade the British Government to assist those concerned. Earl Bathurst, the Colonial Secretarv at one stage offered, on behalf of the government, to meet half the expenses involved. Delay followed upon delay until it seemed that the matter would never be satisfactorily resolved. Samuel Webber, meanwhile, in an effort to secure a free passage, wrote to Earl Bathurst from Manchester Square as follows: 'My Lord - being desirous of settling in Grahamstown, Cape of Good Hope, with my wife and five children, I take the liberty of soliciting from your Lordship the favour of a passage out, with the usual indulgences afforded to Free Settlers. Should your Lordship consider my thirteen years service in the navy entitle me to any claim to the above indulgence, I have enclosed my certificates for the last ten years service. Signed) Samuel Webber.'
Samuel's plea was of no avail and the final blow fell when Shepherd received a letter from the Colonial Office, bluntly informing him that the Treasury had no funds whatsoever with which to assist the would-be settlers.
In the meantime, some of these unfortunates had already sold much of their furniture and possessions in an attempt to raise their share of the required passage money. The full responsibility now rested upon Shepherd's shoulders and he carried out his task as best he could in the circumstances. It is not known how the financial need of all was met, but William Shepherd's Party, consisting of 78 adults (including unaccompanied children) and 88 accompanied children, set sail from England in the English summer of 1826 upon a vovage which lasted close on five months. Some, if not all, sailed in the ship Hebe. The approximate date of their arrival in Algoa Bay is recorded in a letter written by David Cawood in the month of November 1826, from the Colony, to his brother-in-law, William Barrett, in London, in which he stated: 'I have just heard of a few women and children whom their husbands left behind them in England are now arrived at Algoa Bay. From a letter written by John Mitchell Webber to his children, we know the duration of the vovage: 'I have heard my mother say that when a babe I was very small and weak, but having so long a voyage (nearly five months) caused me to grow strong and healthy.'3 Descendants of Charles Webber are proud of the fact that he was in a sufficiently good position to pay his own passage as well as that of his wife Mary and his six children. He certainly had no need to sell any of his possessions for he brought his furniture and books with him. His writing-desk remains in the family to this day. There was also no need for Mary and Martha Webber to sit upon their boxes and weep when the wagons carrying them from Algoa Bay to Grahamstown finally deposited them there. Thomas Young had doubtless made arrangements for the arrival of his relatives -four adults, one youth of nineteen in the person of Charles Pinchin, and ten more children of varying ages.
Samuel's daughter, Martha Jane, in her autobiography, tells of the first blow to befall the party after their arrival. She avers that grants of land had been promised them by Earl Bathurst contingent upon their having paid their own passages. Once arrived, they learned that anyone wishing to obtain land would be obliged to pay for it. There was nothing for it but to give up any plans of farming the land and turn to their trades. For Charles, the Bond Street tailor, this setback seems to have proved no great obstacle.
By 1826 Grahamstown had grown from a straggling village to a thriving town, set in a hollow surrounded by gently rising hills. The 'Settlers' City' had developed from a military outpost to a commercial town served by the two ports of Algoa Bay and Port Frances, the former having been declared a free port in 1826. There existed a flourishing coastal trade with Cape Town which encouraged commercial enterprise, while the institution of the 'Kaffir Fairs', which allowed trading with the natives, had done much to boost the economy of Grahamstown.
When the Webbers arrived there, they found the building of the original square-towered St George's Church in progress and the first Baptist chapel already completed. Artisans were building, innkeepers and businessmen were plying their trades and wagoners regularly travelled the routes to the ports. They saw military barracks and buildings, a gaol, the earliest settler cottages built in characteristic style with pitched roofs and gabled end-walls sporting a chimneystack at either end, as well as single- and double-storeyed buildings with flat roofs and simple lines. There was little evidence of Cape Dutch influence in the architecture of Grahamstown. The detached buildings of the provided a welcome change for the newcomers after the high-density which they had been accustomed in the terraced houses of London.
Charles married Mary Mitchell on 4 Nov 1817 in St Annes, Soho, Westminster, London, England. Mary was born in 1792; died on 30 Aug 1845 in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, South Africa; was buried in Grahamstown Cemetery (Old Baptist), Eastern Cape, South Africa. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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1862 - 1941 (78 years)
