William John Seward Webber was an English sculptor who created civic statuary, and busts of national heroes and local worthies, in marble. He sculpted the statue of Queen Victoria for the Jubilee Monument in Harrogate, North Riding of Yorkshire, England in 1887. An early success was his Warrior and Wounded Youth group of 1878, executed while he was still a student. His busts include portraits of the Duke of Clarence, John Charles Dollman, Henry Phillpotts, John Bowring, John Ruskin, Richard Jefferies, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Charles Darwin, Walter Scott, Thomas Carlyle, Robert Burns and Thomas Holroyd. He was the son of a carver and emigration depot master. He was born and grew up in South West England, and he trained with John Gendall, and at the Exeter School of Art and West London School of Art, before attending the Royal Academy Schools. He worked from studios in London for a while, then at the age of around 49 years he moved to Harrogate, where he worked for the rest of his life. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Grove Road Cemetery, Harrogate. William John Seward (West Teignmouth 1790 – 1857), a superintendent of a home for Irish emigrants in Exeter, Devon, was Webber’s maternal grandfather. His maternal grandmother was Ann Seward nee Rendell (Devon 25 November 1790 – 1830). His step-maternal grandmother was the matron of the emigrant home, Mary Seward (b. Tiverton ca.1803). Webber’s father was William R. Webber (Teignmouth 1806 – Tavistock 1874), a carver who in 1861 was also an emigration depot master in East Stonehouse, Devon. His mother was Hadassah Seward (Teignmouth 13 March 1822 – Knaresborough 1905), a matron of the emigration depot. William John Seward Webber was born in Exeter in January 1842. His brother was Charles Benjamin Warwick Webber (Plymouth ca.1854 – Plymouth 1881). His sister was dressmaker Edith Alice Maria Webber (Stonehouse 1863 – Barnet 1949). In 1851 William J.S. Webber was a scholar living at the Emigrants’ Home in St Andrew, Exeter, with his maternal grandparents. By 1861 he was a carver living with his parents at the Emigrants’ Depot, Newport Street, Exeter. Between 1870 and 1871 he lodged at 205 Tottenham Court Road, London, as a student, describing himself as a sculptor’s assistant and student of sculpture at the Royal Academy. Webber attended school at Plymouth. He was apprenticed as a carver, and after that he trained for two years at the studio of John Gendall (1790–1864), at the same time attending Exeter School of Art. He moved to London in 1864 to study at the West London School of Art, where he qualified to attend the Royal Academy. He then studied at the Royal Academy School, gaining First Medals in 1871 and 1873, and a scholarship. He graduated in 1875. Between 1874 and 1891 Webber’s address was 39 Goodge Street, London, and in 1891 he moved to Holliscroft, Dale Street, Harrogate. Between 1901 and 1911 (and possibly until his death) he lived in a modest terraced house: Holliscroft, 3 Mayfield Grove. Harrogate. In 1891 his mother and sister Edith were living with him; by 1911, just his sister. He never married. Webber died around 17 March 1919 in Harrogate. He is buried in Grove Road Cemetery, Harrogate, but has no grave stone.