Barry Webb (1948)

Barrymore (Barry) Webb was born in the “Potteries”, later his family moved south where Barry went to Bournemouth School, where he was head boy.  He met Hazel, his love of over 80 years, at church and she regularly visited Cambridge while he was at Queens'.  
His Queens’ career started before he came up; he met Derek Shrimpton, a fellow alumnus, while on National Service. Barry and Derek were lifelong friends.  He started studying Natural Sciences but was tempted away to the recently established Chemical Engineering course. He graduated and married in June 1952.

Barry’s first job was with Mobil Oil at their newly built Coryton Oil Refinery. In 1959 he joined the Kuwait Oil Company and in 1963 the family, now including David and Sally, moved to Kuwait. They spent the 1960s in Kuwait, missing the experience of that decade in the UK.  But it was an exciting adventure for a young family. Barry was rapidly promoted and became manager of the oil refinery.

In 1970, the family moved back to the UK and Barry went to work for Gulf Oil.

The family moved to Haverfordwest in Wales in 1972, where Barry and Hazel spent the next forty-eight years and made many friends. Barry’s responsibilities grew to include a joint venture with Texaco and Gulf’s terminal in Ireland, and finally become Vice-President of refining in Europe. He took early retirement in 1985 but quickly returned to work in Denmark as Vice President of European Refining for the Kuwait Petroleum Company.

He was also a keen sailor.  He was Commodore of the Dale Yacht Club, a regular competitor in races, and enjoyed cruises to Ireland and Europe.

Following his retirement, family was his priority.  He lived to see all his grandchildren achieve success and enjoyed playing with his great-grandchildren.  He celebrated his 90^th birthday with a party at Queens'.  In 2019, Barry and Hazel left Haverfordwest to be near their children, David and Sally, in East Anglia.  Hazel died in 2022 and the last year was hard for Barry.

Barry had a long and successful career. He thrived in the different cultures of Bournemouth, Cambridge, London, Kuwait, Denmark, and Pembrokeshire. He was popular with his staff and colleagues. The foundations of his career were built at Queens'.