Jessie Webb

Written by Emily Simons and Madaline Harris-Schober
University of Melbourne

Jessie Webb in academic dress, University of Melbourne. 1975.0048.00007

Jessie Webb was the first woman to teach Ancient History at the University of Melbourne. She became the benefactor of one of the largest travelling scholarships for students in Ancient History and Archaeology at the University.

Webb was born on 31 July 1880 near Tumut, New South Wales, with her mother passing shortly after and her father dying in an accident when she was nine years old. She then moved with her aunt, Jean Lauder Watson, to Melbourne where she lived for the rest of her life. Jessie was among the second generation of women to graduate from the University of Melbourne, and she continued working there for the rest of her life. She joined the staff at the University of Melbourne in 1908, becoming a senior lecturer in 1923. She functioned as acting professor three times before her death in 1944.

Throughout her time at the University, Jessie had an enormous impact on developing the Classics and Archaeology Collection at the University. While teaching at the University of Melbourne, Jessie made two research trips abroad, travelling through Africa to Europe and the eastern Mediterranean; she explored sites that she had spent a lifetime teaching, places that inspired her. These visits 1922–1923, and then again in 1936, proved a catalyst for building the teaching collection and provided a significant amount of story-telling material for students and public lectures. After her first trip, she persuaded the University to contribute 20 to 25 pounds a year to purchase 'representative Greek and Roman coins' to become part of a teaching collection. The collection now comprises 745 coins. 

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During both her student years and as a staff member, Jessie was highly involved in university social life and was a member of the Princess Ida Club, the Historical Society, and the Dramatic Society. In 1910, Jessie was a foundation member of the Catalyst or the 'Cats'; then in 1912 of the Lyceum Club. Both Webb and her fellow members tended to write rhymes about meetings and themselves: ​

My name is Webb, in me you see
How much in little there can be,
My mind enquiring is in tone,
And all its sparkles are my own!
Ridley 1994, 39

Jessie on a mule during her trip to Greece and Turkey (1922-1923). University of Melbourne Archives 2011.0033

Jessie's main interest was ancient history, specifically that of Ancient Greece, and then in later years, Mesopotamia. During her first study leave, she visited Greece, but to get there, she took a rather unorthodox approach. In 1922-23, when she was 41 years old, she travelled alongside Dr Georgina Sweet, a fellow member of the Cats and Lyceum clubs, on a journey from Cape Town to Cairo, an adventurous feat by two well-educated professional women (O’Callaghan 2013). 

​​​After seven months of rail and ferry travel, Jessie went on to Greece. Jessie spent her leave at the prestigious British School of Archaeology in Athens, travelling to Crete from the mainland to further her research. While there, she met Arthur Evans, and later students recall her stories about him as "Screamingly funny!" (Ridley 1994, 165). At the end of this trip, she was nominated as the alternate delegate to the League of Nations assembly in Geneva where she discovered the plight of Armenian genocide survivors, returning to Australia to raise funds to support refugees.

Upon returning to Australia and subsequent 'lady of the hour' public lectures, Jessie highlighted the need for more female archaeologists and often commented on women's different statuses in different countries and universities. Her recommendation to both Australian and international counterparts was the promotion of mentorship; for educated women to watch for talented students within their fields and to give them all possible help. Jessie was a firm proponent of humanism and was noted for her support of disadvantaged students and women abroad.

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Jessie on a camel in front of the Sphinx and Great Pyramids during her trip to Egypt (1922-1923); unknown male. University of Melbourne Archives 2011.0033

Jessie travelled again in 1936, through France, Turkey, Germany and returning to Australia via Syria and Iraq. During this trip, Jessie explored the current excavation at Ur and was dazzled! The general excavation process and her meeting with Leonard Woolley left her with a sense of amazement at the scale of the history she studied. This experience and her sheer interest in 'modern' excavation techniques became a primary source for her to draw upon in her, often anecdotal, lectures. She would discuss the impact that excavation would have on historical interpretations and seemed to delight in the theoretical and scientific implications of excavation as a practice.

Jessie was a trailblazer. Her travels, which now read like an adventure novel to archaeologists and historians alike, portray her as a figure of intellectual vigour, and a woman of understated wit.

It is remarkable that upon her death she bequeathed £7128 to the University of Melbourne to endorse the study of ancient history and archaeology. The fund, originally intended to support her retirement, instead encourages students to spend a 'season' devoted to research in Greece. Jessie created this scholarship from her retirement funds to "assist a student to have the chance she herself never did, to study at the European institution she knew and remembered best, the BSA or equivalent" (Ridley 1994, 141). This remarkable opportunity has benefitted many students in their postgraduate study at the University of Melbourne. Such generosity made Jessie a fantastic teacher and endeared many to her during her time at the University.

It is a humbling experience to write about Jessie Webb and her life for AWAWS and even more so to chronicle some of her adventures and highlight her legacy. 

References and further resources

• O’Callaghan, Margaret, Webb, Jessie, and Georgina Sweet. 2013. Cape Town to Cairo : A Record by Jessie Webb of Her Journey with Georgina Sweet in 1922. Margaret O’Callaghan. 
• Ridley, Ronald T. 1994. Jessie Webb, a Memoir. Melbourne University History Monographs: 20. History Dept., University of Melbourne.
• University of Melbourne Archives 2011.0033
• Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. 'Webb, Jessie Stobo (1880–1944)' Australian Dictionary of Biography

Jessie Webb's signature from scrapbook containing handwritten poetry and illustrations by numerous contributors (c.1881-1921). University of Melbourne Archives 2011.0033

Editorial note

The authors also presented on this topic with their paper "Archaeology, Feminism and Adventure: Jessie Webb’s Legacy" as part of the AWAWS panel 'Women from Australasia in Mediterranean Studies: Past, Present and Future' at the Mediterranean Archaeology Australasian Research Community 2021 Meeting, 28 Jan 2021.