Webster, William Downing (1868 - 1913)
Description
Born in Greenwich, Kent (London), William Downing Webster studied stained-glass-window design in Lancaster and initially became a stained-glass-window designer. He married Agnes Harrison in Kendal in May 1891, lived in Bicester until 1901, when he moved to London. Webster died in January 1913 in a coma caused by chronic alcoholism, in Middlesex. He became a collector and dealer in the early... Read more
Born in Greenwich, Kent (London), William Downing Webster studied stained-glass-window design in Lancaster and initially became a stained-glass-window designer. He married Agnes Harrison in Kendal in May 1891, lived in Bicester until 1901, when he moved to London. Webster died in January 1913 in a coma caused by chronic alcoholism, in Middlesex.
He became a collector and dealer in the early 1890s and purchased materials mostly from primary collectors who had obtained the objects in the field, or he acquired artefacts at auctions. He began issuing his ethnographic catalogues in June 1895, and produced thirty-one in total. From 1898 onwards, these catalogues were illustrated with photographs. Robert Burrow Webster (possibly a brother) worked with Webster on these and took the photographs for them. They were later re-issued in five volumes. He also organised exhibitions at Earls Court that were partly commercial, partly entertainment.
Between 1899 and 1901, Webster became one of the principal sellers of objects from Benin, and many of these were brought to him directly by members of the British Military Campaign on Benin, then resold directly or at auctions (many at Stevens’).
He finally sold his entire stock at Stevens Auction Rooms, London, on 14, 15, 28, 29 and 30 November 1904, in two catalogues with 503 and 750 lots, respectively. During the sale of 30 November 1904, lots 661–90 consisted of Benin material (a copy of the catalogues is in the Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum).
His collection was thus entirely dispersed, and contributed significantly to museums and private collections in Britain, Germany and the United States. From 1895 onwards, Webster was connected to William Ockelford Oldman; his activities are traceable through Oldman’s stock books. Today, Webster’s stock books are at the Te Papa Museum in New Zealand. Oldman bought several hundred items at the 1904 Stevens sale of the Webster collection (Oldman stock numbers 6,728-7,067) and continued to make purchases from Webster until January 1913.
Webster was also associated with Eva Amarantha Webster (born Cutter) from around the 1890s, at a time when she took over her family firm that sold ethnographic and natural-history specimens. She purchased nearly forty Benin Ama (Relief Plaque) from the British Museum in 1899. Their possible business relationship developed into something more personal: Eva Cutter officially changed her name to Eva Webster in 1902. Webster was apparently not divorced. From 1913, she used both names ‘Cutter’ and ‘Webster’ in business (Waterfield, King, 2006, p.55-63).
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