View source for William R. Webb

{{Short description|American politician (1842–1926)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = William Robert Webb
| image = William R. Webb (cropped).jpg
| state = Tennessee
| office = [[United States Senator]]<br/>from [[Tennessee]]
| district =
| term_start =January 24, 1913
| term_end = March 3, 1913
| preceded = [[Newell Sanders]]
| successor =[[John K. Shields]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1842|11|11}}
| birth_place = [[Person County, North Carolina]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1926|12|19|1842|11|11}}
| death_place = [[Bell Buckle, Tennessee]]
| nationality = American
| spouse = Emma Clary
| party = [[United States Democratic Party|Democrat]]
| relations =
| children = William Robert, Jr. (1874–1960)<br>Alla (1875–1944)<br>John Stanford (1877–1951)<br>Adeline (1879–1968)<br>Susan (1882–1980)<br>Emma (1884–1973)<br>Thompson (1887–1975)
| residence =
| alma_mater = [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]]
| occupation = Soldier, Educator
| profession =
| religion =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''William Robert Webb''' (November 11, 1842{{spaced ndash}}December 19, 1926) also known as "'''Sawney'''" '''Webb''', was an educator who founded [[Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee)|the Webb School]] and served briefly as a [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] [[United States Senator]] from [[Tennessee]].

==Biography==
Webb was born near [[Mount Tirzah, North Carolina|Mount Tirzah]] in [[Person County, North Carolina]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Bioguide Search |url=https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/W000232 |access-date=2023-01-11 |website=bioguide.congress.gov}}</ref> He was the grandson of [[Richard Stanford (American politician)|Richard Stanford]], an early ten-term [[United States House of Representatives|United States Representative]] from [[North Carolina]].<ref name=":0" /> His father, Alexander Webb, died when he was six years old.<ref name="TN Encyclo1" /> He attended [[private school]]s, including the [[Bingham School]] in [[Oaks, North Carolina]], and then matriculated at the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]] in 1860.  However, he soon left to join the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] in the Fifteenth North Carolina Infantry Regiment, in which he served until badly wounded at the [[Battle of Malvern Hill]] on July 1, 1862. While recovering from his wounds, he again attended UNC. In the spring of 1864, he re-enlisted as a private in the Second North Carolina Cavalry Regiment and had risen to the rank of Captain by the time of his capture on April 3, 1865, after the [[Battle of Namozine Church]]. He was imprisoned on Hart's Island in western Long Island Sound and then transferred to [[Castle Garden]] at the southern tip of [[Manhattan]] in June, 1865, from which he escaped for a one-day adventure in the city.<ref name="McMillan, The Schoolmaker">McMillan, "The Schoolmaker"</ref>  After the conclusion of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] he returned to UNC, graduating in 1868 and subsequently teaching at [[Horner Military School]] in [[Oxford, North Carolina]] until 1870.<ref name=":0" />

That year he moved to Tennessee and established [[Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee)|The Webb School]], a [[University-preparatory school|preparatory school]] in the small community of [[Culleoka, Tennessee|Culleoka]].  In 1886, after Culleoka [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] and legalized the sale of liquor in the new city, he (being a [[prohibitionist]]) moved the Webb School to [[Bell Buckle, Tennessee|Bell Buckle]], where it still exists today.<ref name="TN Encyclo1">Ridley Wills II, "[http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=1483 William R. 'Sawney' Webb]," ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture''</ref>

Webb married Emma Clary on April 23, 1873, and together they produced eight children: William Robert, Jr. (1874–1960), Alla (1875–1944), John Stanford (1877–1951), Adeline (1879–1968), Daniel Clary (1881–1954), Susan (1882–1980), Emma (1884–1973), and Thompson (1887–1975). His eldest son Will succeeded him as principal at the Webb School, and his youngest son Thompson founded the Webb School of [[California]] (now [[The Webb Schools]]) in Claremont in 1922.<ref name="McMillan, The Schoolmaker" />

He was elected to the United States Senate by the [[Tennessee General Assembly]] to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator [[Robert Love Taylor]] and served from January 24 to March 3, 1913. He was the last Confederate soldier to do so. Always a prohibitionist, he delivered his one speech in the Senate to support a law prohibiting interstate transport of liquor.<ref name="McMillan, The Schoolmaker" />  He then returned to Bell Buckle and his school, dying there in 1926<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1927-01-03 |title=Milestones: Jan. 3, 1927 |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,711594,00.html |access-date=2023-01-11 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref> and being buried at Hazel Cemetery.

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Find a Grave|7931666}}
{{CongBio|W000232}}
*{{cite book |author=Laurence McMillin |title=The Schoolmaker: Sawney Webb and the Bell Buckle Story |url=https://archive.org/details/schoolmakersawne0000mcmi |url-access=registration |location=Chapel Hill, NC |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1971 |isbn=0-8078-1163-7}}

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{{U.S. Senator box |
  state= Tennessee |
  class=2|
  before= [[Newell Sanders]] |
  after= [[John K. Shields]] |
  alongside= [[Luke Lea (1879–1945)|Luke Lea]] |
  years=1913
}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSenTN}}
{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 62nd [[United States Congress]] |state=[[Tennessee]]}}
{{USCongRep/TN/62}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, William R.}}
[[Category:1842 births]]
[[Category:1926 deaths]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Tennessee]]
[[Category:Founders of American schools and colleges]]
[[Category:Tennessee Democrats]]
[[Category:People from Bell Buckle, Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Person County, North Carolina]]
[[Category:People from Culleoka, Tennessee]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]