Ever since a Cipher Mysteries commenter noticed that a C Webb seemed to be linked to Swinburne Technical College, there’s been a lot of active discussion here about whether or not we have a photograph of our man. Though I’ll try to summarise the discussion below, note that I haven’t yet had a reply from the librarians / archivists at Swinburne (I asked whether they had student records from the 1920s, and if so if there was a Carl Webb listed), so this identification still falls short of 100%.
Football Crazy
The starting point is essentially this: that given that Carl Webb (b. 1905) is listed in the Victoria electoral rolls up to 1939 as an electrical fitter, he must have learnt his trade somewhere. So where?
Commenter Furphy kicked off the whole process with a comment noting that there was a “C Webb” of basically the right age in a picture of the Swinburne Technical College U-16 football team, Minor Premiers 1921. Though this helpfully lists the players’ names (“D Whitfield, K Millar, A Alderson, J Wilson, R James, R Hulse, J Scott, C Webb, A Mahsall, A Dubberlin, H Ainsworth, C Oriander, T Anderson, F Ward, A West, W Hunt, B Stockfield, W Taylor, G Wilson, H Derrick, Sportsmaster D C Chat”), it doesn’t actually say who is who.
Interestingly, we know from Trove (found by commenter Pat from Brazil) that Carl Webb was still playing football in October 1930:
During football playing on Show Day, Mr. C. Webb, of the bakery, fell and again injured his leg, thus placing him on the resting list.
However, Swinburne Technical College is in Central Melbourne and the Webb family home was in Camperdown (1916/1918), then Malvern (64 Glenferrie Rd in 1922) then Oakleigh (50 Kangaroo Rd in 1924/1925/1926/1927) then Springvale (Springvale Rd from 1928 onwards), so it’s not an obviously perfect fit. Yet Charles Webb doesn’t appear on the electoral rolls at Oakleigh, not even for 1927 (you had to be over 21 years to vote): his first entry is in Springvale (as an “electrical fitter”) in 1928. So while it seems a reasonable guess that he was living in the family home during that period, it’s not 100% certain.
Furphy was also far from sure that any of the footballers’ faces strongly resembled the Somerton Man (though admittedly 27 years older and deceased). All the same, it’s a great starting point, one that begged to be advanced further…
Electrical Fitter
According to the Camperdown Herald, 01 Nov 1926 (again found by Pat), Carl Webb (Russell Webb’s youngest brother) was still “going to school” then, which I think fits the pattern of Carl Webb training as an electrical fitter in 1926 rather well:
Russell R .Webb, baker, Camperdown, said his father was suffering from an injury to the knee. He had two brothers, both going to school. There were three sisters, one was married. Exemption till November 30.
And so it wasn’t a huge surprise (to me, at least) when Furphy quickly found a different reference to C Webb at Swinburne, in The Swinburnian, vol. 1, no. 1, December 1922, p. 8:
“Engineering.—Day Course: H. R. Corr, L. A. Clegg, A. E. Dubberlin, A. O. Griffiths, A. G. Marshall, H. T. Popple. Evening Course: W. H. Sydserff, W . G. Gosbell, J. G. Endersbee, C. Webb. ”
Matching Other Players
This was the point where commenter Behrooz had the smart idea of cross-referencing the faces in the photo against other Swinburne photos. Other photos are accompanied by lists of names in order, which makes it very easy to see who is who. For example, this 1922 photo has “A Marshall” on the right end of the middle row:
Similarly, this 1923 image has A Marshall and G Wilson at the left-hand end of the middle row:
So here’s A Marshall in 1922:
And here’s A Marshall and G Wilson in 1923:
With this, I think we can identify G Wilson in the original photo as sitting in the front row (albeit with a slightly shorter hair cut):
And also A Marshall (front row, right end):
At Last, The Photo of Carl Webb (maybe)
However, even though the comparisons are really interesting, I disagree with Behrooz when he then tries to force a zigzag numbering onto the original list of names. Rather, I suspect that commenter Rena was correct to visually identify the footballer on the left end of the middle row as ‘our’ C Webb. For me, it’s the ears & nose that really do it, but perhaps you’ll disagree:
Any other opinions? Or any other Swinburne Technical College photos that prove this wrong?