John Webb – builders’ merchant

The re-imagined story …

If you were a builder, where would you build your own house? When I was a child it was always my dream to live in one of those Victorian red brick villas on Bath Road. I had a couple of favourites; properties I would buy if I ever won the pools. Dad always let me do a line on his coupon. I used to have my favourite teams as well, ones I picked every week. I could tell by the expression on dad’s face we wouldn’t be collecting our winnings anytime soon.

Mr Webb had built the house I had my eye on – an elegant property named Fairhaven, close to the Bath Road Methodist Church. It was everything you’d expect a fairhaven to be – beautiful with a fantastic view; a safe place to raise a family.

When Linda and I got married we bought a three bedroom terrace house in Dover Street. An old lady had lived there all her life – it needed a lot of work doing on it. No bathroom and an outside toilet, an old fashioned scullery and you could smell the damp as soon as you opened the front door. We ploughed every penny we had into renovating that little house, doing most of the work ourselves. We were young, fit and in love. I wouldn’t attempt a project like that now – not that I don’t still love Linda, of course!

When we eventually finished we decided to give the house a name; of course it had to be Fairhaven. Our own beautiful place in which to raise our family. And would you believe it, John Webb had built our house in 1882.

The facts …

John Webb was born in North Nibley, Gloucestershire in 1850, the son of Henry Webb, an agricultural labourer, and his wife Lucy. At the time of the 1871 census he was still living at the family home and working as a wheelwright. However, he soon struck out on his own, moving to Swindon in the early 1870s.

Through the 1870s and 80s John was busy across town building houses in Regents Circus (c1872) Page Street eight cottages (1876) Princes Street, house (1879) Station Road house (1881) Dover Street houses (1882) and so it continued.

He married Edna Whiteman at ‘the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel near the market place Swindon’ on April 13, 1876. He was 26 years old and describes himself as a carpenter and joiner living at 5 Henry Street, Rodbourne Lane. Edna[h] was 22 years old, the daughter of Jesse Whiteman, a farmer from Gorse Hill.

At the time of the 1881 census John Webb employed 12 men and 3 boys. Between 1881 and the mid 1890s John and Edna lived at 13 Station Road, sadly not a fairhaven as here two of their children died – Ellen Lucy in 1887 age 3 months and Jesse Henry who died in 1892 age 15.

And then in 1911 John changed tack. Hereafter he worked as a builder’s merchant. Perhaps he found it more profitable. Perhaps he found the years of heavy labour were taking their toll.

John died on May 31, 1927 aged 78 years. He was buried in plot E8528 with Edna who had died in April 1923 aged 69 years. Their two young children are buried in the neighbouring grave where Edith Annie, their second eldest child, was also buried when she died in 1948 age 69.