Early Life
He was born at Lyttelton, the port of Christchurch, New Zealand, on 21 January 1880 and was educated at the local schools. In his youth he was a natural athlete being prominent in running and cycling but he turned his attention to rowing. He won various amateur events between 1896 and 1905/06 not only in single sculls but also in doubles and fours. In his last season as an amateur he won the Champion Single Sculls and the Champion Double Sculls events at Picton, and later the Senior Single Sculls at Wanganui, and thus he was the amateur New Zealand Champion. By this time Webb had moved to Wanganui to live and he spent the rest of his life there. After winning the amateur events he decided to turn professional.
Read more about this topic: William Webb (rower)
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