T. B. L. Webster

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T. B. L. Webster

Thomas Bertram Lonsdale Webster (3 July 1905 – 31 May 1974) was an English archaeologist and Classicist, known for his studies of Greek comedy.

During World War I he attended Charterhouse. As a student at Oxford University, he first studied Greek vases that John Beazley had brought in, but soon switched Menander and a lifelong interest in Greek comedy that resulted in "reconstructions of the plots of lost plays and ... collections of evidence from widely disparate sources bearing on the history of the Greek theater". He followed William Moir Calder (1880–1960) as Hulme Professor of Greek at Manchester University, a position he held 1931–48, when he was followed by Henry Westlake (1906–92). He then was Professor of Greek at University College London 1948–68 and in 1953 established the Institute of Classical Studies. During World War II he served as an officer in the military intelligence. After his wife, the Classicist A. M. Dale, died in 1967, he moved to Stanford University as professor of classics and as an emeritus.

In honour of his work, a street in the Acropolis district of Athens has been renamed to Webster Street (transliterated Gouemster on some signs and maps).

Awards and honors

• President of the Joint Association of Classical Teachers
• President of the Hellenic Society and the Classical Association
• Honorary Doctor of Letters at University of Manchester 1966 (also at Dublin)
• Fellowships in the Royal Academy and the Society of Antiquaries

References

Academic offices
Preceded by Marriott T. Smiley	Professor of Greek, University College London 1948–1968	Succeeded by E. W. Handley