• Not the same as William Webbe, Lord Mayor of London
• Not the son of John Webb, of Stratford-upon-Avon

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Biography

WEBBE, alias KELLOWE, William (by 1466-1523), of Salisbury, Wilts. b. by 1466. m. (1) Joan, wid. of one Stone ?of Salisbury, 1s. William Webbe II 1da., (2) Edith, wid. of Robert Long (d.1501) of Steeple Ashton and of one Morgan; (3) Joan.2

According to a statement in his will, William Webbe was christened in the church of St. Lawrence at Shaftesbury. His parentage is unknown, but his use of the alias ‘Kellowe’ in his will raises the possibility that he was an illegitimate offspring of one of the Keilway family of Dorset and thus perhaps related in blood to Robert Keilway I. If Webbe was a bastard it did not impede his progress, for by the end of the 15th century he had become one of the richest merchants of Salisbury.

Webbe made his will on 13 July 1523, describing himself as ‘William Kellowe or William Webbe of the city of New Sarum, mercer and merchant’ and asking to be buried in the church of St. Thomas, where his three wives already lay. He made bequests to his daughter Cecily, the wife of Thomas White of Poole, and her three children, as well as to the children of his second wife by her two earlier marriages. The chief beneficiary and sole executor was his son William who received a dwelling house, shop, warehouses and five tenements ‘by the water lane in Castle Street’ at Salisbury. Thomas White and another ‘son-in-law’, John Stone, were named overseers, with £10 and £5 apiece. Webbe died some three months before the close of his mayoralty, for the will was proved on 14 Aug. and his death was noted when the assembly met to elect a successor five days later.7

brief biography

alive in 1488

also known as:

• William Killikoe
• William Kellowe
• William Kellow

notes

Date and place of birth might more specifically be circa 1464 at New Sarum (now Salisbury), Wiltshire, England.

comments

Date and place of birth have been (erroneously?) reported to be:

• March 16, 1424 at an unspecified location
• March 16, 1425 at London, Middlesex (now Greater London), England
• circa 1435 at New Sarum (now Salisbury), Wiltshire, England

Date and place of death have also been (erroneously?) reported to be 1523 at Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.

References

1. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/we...
2. 'The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine' (vol XLIX, no. 175, December 1941, 'Pedigree showing Coke, Stone and Webbe families, with intermarriages', before p479). < link >
3. https://stirnet.com/genie/data/british/ww/webb01.php#top
4. https://stirnet.com/genie/data/british/ww/webb01.php#con2
5. http://jimwebb.rootsweb.ancestry.com/webb/pafg04.htm#9486
6. FamilySearch AFN 9ST2-PF
7. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LRJ3-MX2/william-webb-i-1425-...
8. https://www.ancestry.ca/genealogy/records/sir-william-lord-mayor-of...
9. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/202392382/william-webb (has errors) not this man
10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Thomas%27s_Church,_Salisbury St Thomas's Church is a Church of England parish church in central Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. The church was founded in the early 13th century and rebuilt in the 15th century at the expense of the city's prosperous merchants. Above the chancel arch is a large doom painting from the late 15th century or early 16th. The building is Grade I listed.
11. https://www.greatenglishchurches.co.uk/html/salisbury-_st_thomas.html