William Henry Webster

The Reverend William Henry Webster (1 October 1850 – 1931) was born at Upton Hall, Cheshire.

After a brief career in the navy, during which he saw service in Asia, Webster studied to become a priest and followed this vocation to his retirement.

Several New Zealand molluscs are named after him and a collection of his shells can be found in the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Having a fortune of some £8-9000 he married a young woman and they lived off the interest, but by 1843 he petitioned for insolvency, which could have landed him in prison.

[2] John Egerton is shown by the 1871 census to be an inmate of a poor house in Norwich, England.

Two logbooks covering the period 5 May 1866 to 14 April 1871 were lodged with the Auckland City Libraries by his daughter in 1943.

[4] Webster witnessed the Naval Battle of Hakodate (4 to 10 May 1869), and his sketch of it appeared in the Illustrated London News, 11 September 1869.

Initially non-collegiate from 1874, Webster entered St John's College, Cambridge in 1875, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1877.

In 1929 he gifted his substantial collection of New Zealand and foreign shells to the new Auckland War Memorial Museum.