William Webbe, Lord Mayor of London

William Webbe (died 1599) was a 16th-century English merchant and Lord Mayor of London. He was the son of John Webbe, a clothier of Reading in Berkshire. Webbe moved to London and joined the Salters' Company, one of the livery companies of the city. He was elected alderman in 1581, then as one of the Sheriffs of London later the same year. He was elected mayor in 1591, succeeding Rowland Heyward. While serving as mayor, he was the subject of a dedication of one of the works of the author Richard Johnson, his "Nine Worthies of London." After his term, he served as the president of Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals, from 1594 until his death. He died in 1599.

William Webbe was connected by blood or marriage to several other important figures of the time. He was the maternal uncle of William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Webbe married Bennet Draper, daughter of an earlier Lord Mayor of London, Sir Christopher Draper. Two of his sisters-in-law married other Lord Mayors of London, respectively Sir Wolstan Dixie and Sir Henry Billingsley.

Source: wikipedia.org

Monument - St. Dunstan's in the East, In the South Ile of the Choir.

There is a fair Alabaster Tomb, principally belonging to Sir Christopher Draper, Knt. yet bearing Inscriptions in regard of the several Marriages of his Daughters:

Sir William Webbe, Knt. Salter, and Lord Maior of London, 1591. deceased the fourth Day of July, 1599. Lady Bennet, his Wife, yet living, Daughter to Sir Christopher Draper, Knt. performed this in her Love to him.

Source: John Strype's A Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster

Links: findagrave.com