Background

Graham Alexander Webster was born on May 31, 1913, in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom.

Education

Graham Alexander Webster was educated at Stamford School. He held a Master of Arts degree from the University of Manchester. Webster also had a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Birmingham.

Career

After leaving school, Graham Alexander Webster trained as a civil engineer, working in Peterborough and then in Canterbury, building a bridge over the River Stour. The rigorous practical discipline acquired as a civil engineer was of the greatest use as he became involved in archaeological excavation work, at first in the ruins of Canterbury during the Blitz, where the bombing was revealing vestiges of the Roman city. His long association with pottery studies likewise began there, where he cataloged the samian ware in the museum. After war service with the Air Ministry in Scotland, constructing aerodromes, he was sent to Prestwick to take charge of building the Trans-Atlantic Air Terminal where he found and excavated a late Bronze Age urnfield, a rare excursion into prehistoric archaeology. In this enterprise he met Professor Gordon Childe at Edinburgh, being warned in advance not to be surprised by the great man's 'very odd monkey-like face!' After this, he turned to Roman military archaeology, a field in which he would make a unique contribution.

In 1941-1942, in a relatively small excavation at the West Gate, Lincoln, he discovered for the first time parts of the remains of the Roman legionary fortress. Here he met Dr. Ian (later Professor Sir Ian) Richmond who was so impressed by him that he was engaged to work at the Roman forts at Newstead in Scotland and Hod Hill in Dorset. In 1945 when Graham was a senior engineering assistant in the Lincoln City Engineer's Office, the Lincoln Archaeological Research Committee was founded and Richmond asked him to carry out a trial excavation under its aegis to investigate terracing on steeply sloping derelict land at Flaxengate in the lower Roman town. In the following year, he continued his excavations of the fortress at North Row, and the Royal Archaeological Institute held its Summer Meeting at Lincoln. This was the occasion of his first meeting several eminent archaeologists, including Brian O'Neil, Christopher and Jacquetta Hawkes, and Philip Corder, who became a lifelong friend. Recognition of his status within the subject was marked by his election in 1947 to the Fellowship of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 1948 he was appointed to the first full-time curatorship of the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, where the Roman Gallery is now named after him. He set about reorganizing the internationally important collection of sculptures and inscriptions, which had for many years been rather neglected. He was to record that he 'not only transformed the museum but excavated parts of the legionary fortress every year. He involved the local community as much as possible and with the aid of models of the fortress (some made for him by Kenneth Barton) and the first life-size mannequin of a Roman legionary soldier in Britain, he attempted to present as accurate an impression as possible of life in Roman times.

It was at Chester he wrote two important booklets. The first was A Short Guide to the Roman Inscriptions and Sculptured Stones in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester (1950), appearing five years before R R Wright and Ian Richmond's Catalogue of the same stones, and fifteen years before the national corpus of inscriptions was published. The second, The Roman Army, (1956) was the genesis of his most significant general work, The Roman Imperial Army.

In 1954 he became Extra-Mural Tutor in Archaeology at Birmingham University, eventually rising by the time of his retirement in 1980 to Reader in Romano-British Archaeology. During his years at Birmingham, he carried out a major project on the Fosse Way frontier. His work at Barnsley Park (1961-1979) provided the first-hand background and evidence required in his timely rethinking of the place of the farming villa in the Romano-British landscape and economy, best expressed in such seminal papers as The Future of Villa Studies (1969). To many, Graham's fame will rest in a large part on the great series of summer excavations at Wroxeter which he initiated as a training school over thirty annual seasons (1955-1985).

His interest in the early years of Roman Britain led to the publication with Donald Dudley of The Rebellion of Boudka (1962) and The Roman Conquest of Britain (1965). These later developed into what has become the classical account of the subject, Boudica (1978), The Roman Invasion of Britain (1980), and Rome Against Caratacus (1981). Later he was to take a particular interest in Romano-Celtic religion, and his book, The British Celts and their Gods under Rome (1986) shows his fascination with the native peoples of the Province.

He served as an archaeological advisor to Batsford Books, where he oversaw the publication of a formidable list of archaeological works.

Achievements

• Graham Alexander Webster is one of Britain's most experienced and eminent archaeologists. He is best known for his excavations at Romano-British sites and has specialized in Roman Britain and the Roman imperial army. The Graham Webster Research Fund was established in his honor by the Association for Roman Archaeology.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Roman Imperial Army of the First and Second Centuries A.D.

    (It is an illustrated study of the organization, tactics, ...)

    1969
  • Practical Archaeology 1974
  • The Roman Invasion of Britain 1980
  • Boudica: The British Revolt Against Rome AD 60 1978
  • The Cornovii 1975
  • Rome Against Caratacus: The Roman Campaigns in Britain 48-58 1981
  • The Rebellion of Boudicca 1963
  • Wall Roman Site 1995
  • The British Celts and Their Gods Under Rome 1986

Membership

Graham Alexander Webster was a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Connections

Graham Alexander Webster married his first wife Margaret Baxendale in 1938 and they had two sons, Antony and Terry. Later, they divorced. He married Diana Bonakis.

Spouse:

Diana Bonakis Webster

ex-spouse:

Margaret Baxendale

Son:

Anthony Webster

Son:

Terry Webster

Acquaintance:

Ian Richmond

Friend:

Donald Atkinson

Acquaintance:

Vere Childe

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2010