Sir Godfrey Webster 4th Bart.

1749 - 3rd Jun 1800


Biography

Son of Sir Godfrey Webster, 3rd bart., and his wife Elizabeth nee Gilbert. Succeeded to the baronetcy in 1780. Married Elizabeth Vassall, daughter of Richard Vassall of Jamaica and over 20 years his junior, in 1786. The marriage was not a happy one. Webster inherited Battle Abbey in East Sussex but was unable to live there as his aunt Martha nee Nairn retained the life tenancy (she died in 1810). Elizabeth left him for Henry Richard Fox, 3rd Baron Holland, in 1794. Webster divorced his wife in 1797 and retained the income from his wife's Jamaican estates, worth over £7,000 a year. He committed suicide in 1800.


Sources

History of Parliament online, http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/vassall-%28afterwards-webster-%29-sir-godfrey-1747-1800 [accessed 10/09/2015]. Christopher Whittick, ‘Webster family (per. c.1650–1836)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/view/article/74132, accessed 10/09/2015].


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Elizabeth Vassall
Children
Including Sir Godfrey Webster, 5th bart.
Occupation
Politician and landowner

Legacies Summary

Political (1)

MP
 
election →
Seaford Sussex
1786 - 1790
election →
Wareham Dorset
1796 - 1800

Relationships (2)

Son-in-law → Father-in-law
Husband → Wife

Addresses (1)

Battle Abbey, Battle, Sussex, South-east England, England