William R. Webb (November 11, 1842-December 19, 1926) was an educator who served briefly as a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee. Webb was born in Person County, North Carolina. He was the grandson of Richard Stanford, an early ten-term United States Representative from North Carolina. He attended private schools and then matriculated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1860. However, he soon left to join the Confederate Army. After the conclusion of the war he returned to UNC, graduating in 1868 and subsequently teaching at a private school in Oxford, North Carolina until 1870.
That year he moved to Tennessee and established The Webb School, a Prepatory School in the small community of Culleoka. He moved The Webb School to Bell Buckle in 1886 (where it still exists today). He was elected to the United States Senate by the Tennessee General Assembly to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Robert L. Taylor, and served from January 24 to March 3, 1913. He then returned to Bell Buckle and his school, dying there in 1926 and being buried at Hazelwood Cemetery.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
