Rugby School is steeped in literary history, this year is the 160th anniversary of the publication of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, to celebrate Rugby Yarn Bombers created a number of yarn installations around the town in July and August. Since the beginning of September Rugby School Museum has been hosting The Wasp in a Wig installation, a nod to the missing chapter from Through the Looking-Glass, which was discovered in 1974, the year before girls first entered Rugby School.

While Rugby School's main connection is to the novel's creator who attended the School between 1846 and 1849, there are a couple of other connections through other Rugbeians such as G F Webb.

Geoffrey Fuller Webb, known professionally as Geoffrey Webb was born on 5th August 1879, at Salisbury House in London. After attending St Germans Place School in Kidbrooke, Webb entered Rugby School in September 1893 as a member of School House. At this time John Percival was Head Master of Rugby and House Master of School House. Percival left Rugby in 1895 and for the second part of Webb's time at the School H A James was his Head Master and House Master. While at Rugby Webb was a member of the Natural History Society and in 1894 he won a prize for Etymology. In 1897 he won second prize for the essay "Some Observations on Churches in North Kent," and took part in a swimming event, swimming 10 lengths in 4 minutes and 28.5 seconds. Webb left Rugby in the second term (now known as Trinity) of 1897 and went to the Westminster School of Art.

After attending art school Webb became an apprentice and worked under Charles Eamer Kempe (Evans/Bradley, 1851-1856). Kempe was a Victorian designer and manufacturer of stained glass. Webb worked with him between 1899 and 1902. He then briefly partnered with Herbert Bryans and Ernest Heasman before working for himself. 

During his career Webb was influenced by the Gothic Revival and brought a lot of colours into his designs. His commissions included:

• Canterbury Cathedral
• Manchester Cathedral
• Llandaff Cathedral
• St Alban's Church, Copenhagen
• Cathedrals in Johannesburg and George, South Africa

All his works of stained glass feature his mark which was a spiders web, incorporated into the design of the window. 

During World War I, Webb was a member of the Artist Rifles, 46th Anti-Aircraft Company as a RGA Lieutenant. After the war he continued his career as an artist and designer of church furnishings. In 1933 he designed a window for All Saints' Daresbury Cheshire to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's (School House, 1846-1848) birth. The window “depicts a Nativity scene, at which both Carroll and Alice are present. Below the Nativity scene are 5 panels illustrated with characters and scenes from Alice in Wonderland including the White Rabbit, the Lizard, the Dodo, the Caterpillar, Fish-Footman, Mad Hatter, Dormouse, March Hare, Duchess, Gryphon, Mock Turtle, Knave and Queen of Hearts. The famous Cheshire Cat can be found in the centre of the fifth panel. The 3 centre panels contain verses from the Lewis Carroll's poem 'Christmas Greetings (From a Fairy to a Child)'”. (Lewis Carroll Window - Daresbury Church). It can't be seen in this image but further up the window is a small Rugby School Coat of Arms.

After this Webb continued to work until his death in 1954.

Sources 

Rugby School Archives

• The Meteor, November 1 1894, Filename.ashx
• The Meteor, June 10 1897, Filename.ashx
• The Meteor, July 10, 1897, Filename.ashx
• Old Rugbeian Society, Letter LXX, November 1933, RUGORNL1933_070nov.pdf

Secondary sources

• Lewis Carroll Window - Daresbury Church
• Geoffrey Webb (artist) - Wikipedia
• Geoffrey Fuller Webb : London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London
• Geoffrey Fuller Webb | Flickr
• Webb, Geoffrey Fuller, 1879–1954 | Art UK
• List of works by Geoffrey Webb - Wikipedia

This year as part of the Rugby Literary Festival hosted in the town Rugby School Enterprises are running a tour focusing on Rugby School's literary history where visitors can find out more about the School's connections with literary greats Rugby Literary Festival - School Tour - Rugby Enterprises.