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Webb, Jessie Stobo Watson (1880 - 1944)

Born
31 July 1880
Ellerslie station, near Tumut, New South Wales, Australia
Died
17 February 1944
Linden Private Hospital, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Historian and Lecturer

Summary

Jessie Webb became the first female teacher at the University of Melbourne when she joined the History Department. A prominent figure in women's organisations she was a founding member of the Catalysts, the Lyceum Club, the Victorian Women Graduates Association, and the Women's College. Webb, who completed two major overseas trips, is permanently commemorated in the name of the History Department Library at the University of Melbourne.

Details

Events

October 1896
Passed matriculation examinations aged 16 years. Obtained honours in English, History and French and passed in German, Geography and Physiology. She obtained the Exhibition in English and History.
1898
Joined the Princess Ida Club. Membership number 222
14 February 1898
Enrolled at the University of Melbourne
1901
Winner of the Cobden Club medal
1901 - 1912
Tutor in history and political economy at Trinity College
December 1901
Awarded the Wyselaskie Scholarship in English Constitutional History
5 April 1902
Graduated Batchelor of Arts (BA)
4 May 1906
Registered as a teacher under the Teachers and Schools Registration Act of 1905
7 December 1908
Appointed by the University of Melbourne Council as an evening lecturer in history, to teach courses on the British Empire and Ancient History
1909
Elected president of the Princess Ida Club
21 May 1909
Foundation member of the Royal Victorian Historical Society, membership number 30.
24 September 1910
One of the original 19 members who formed the Catalysts
1911 - 1914
Served on the Princess Ida Club committee 1911-1912, 1914 and was delegate to the National Council of Women of Victoria
May 1911
Gave a paper to the Catalysts titled 'Pragmatism, or the life and works of Annie Swan'
March 1912 - 17 February 1944
Foundation member of the Lyceum Club
1914
Gave a paper to the Catalysts on the causes of war
1914 - 1921
Principal of Coaching College at 6, The Block, Collins Street, Melbourne
1916
Gave a paper to the Catalysts on Crete
1920 - 1922
President of the Melbourne Lyceum Club
1922 - 1923
Accompanied Dr Georgina Sweet on a journey from Cape Town to Cairo
1923
Alternate delegate to the League of Nations assembly
1923
Became a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne
1924 - 1925
President of the Victorian Woman Graduates' Association
1925
Acting professor at the University of Melbourne
1933 - 1934
Acting professor at the University of Melbourne
1936
Completed second oversea trip. From England to North Africa, then back to France and by train to Athens, thence to Turkey, down to the Aegean coast and east as far as Cappadocia. She returned to Germany then to Syria and Iraq.
1942 - 1944
Acting professor at the University of Melbourne

Sources used to compile this entry: Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories : brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne, Department of History, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2003, 168 pp; Ridley, Ronald T, Jessie Webb, a memoir, University of Melbourne, Department of History, Parkville, Vic., 1994, 208 pp.

Related entries

Membership

Secretary

Related Women

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • CHURCHWARD, LLOYD GORDON, 1937, 95/2; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • HAYNES, STANLEY GODDARD, 1925 - 1930, 79/4; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • RIDLEY, RONALD THOMAS, 1899 - 1925, 93/157; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • WEBB, JESSIE STOBO WATSON, 1922, 97/37; Webb, Jessie Stobo Watson (1880 - 1944); The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • WEBSTER, MONA, 1959 - 1961, 93/103; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Ridley, Ronald T, Jessie Webb, a memoir, University of Melbourne, Department of History, Parkville, Vic., 1994, 208 pp. Details

Online Resources

See also

  • 'Jessie Webb Collection', in VIRTUAL MUSEUM PROJECT, School of Fine Arts, Classical Studies and Archaeology, University of Melbourne, http://vm.arts.unimelb.edu.au/report/webb.htm. Details
  • 'Jessie Webb Scholarship', in Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, http://www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/currentstudents/scholarships/jesweb.html. Details
  • Flesch, Juliet and McPhee, Peter, 150 years, 150 stories : brief biographies of one hundred and fifty remarkable people associated with the University of Melbourne, Department of History, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 2003, 168 pp. Details
  • Gillison, Joan M, A History of the Lyceum Club Melbourne, The Lyceum Club, Melbourne, 1975, 118 pp. Details
  • Kelly, Farley, Degrees of liberation : a short history of women in the University of Melbourne, Women Graduates Centenary Committee, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic., 1985, 172 pp. Details
  • Ruljancich, Sally, 'Garden Parties and Politics : The Victorian Women's Graduate Association 1920-1945', in The Millennium Scholars (ed.), A chequered past : pieces of Melbourne University, University of Melbourne, Dept. of History, Melbourne, 2000, pp. 28-38. Details

Anne Heywood

Created: 2 October 2003, Last modified: 24 April 2009

Site-wide information and acknowledgements

National Foundation for Australian Women The University of Melbourne, eScholarship Research Centre

http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0580b.htm

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