John Clarence Webster   

M.D., D.Sc., LL.D.

Image used by permission of the

New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, N.B.

 

Born: October 21, 1863, Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada

Died:   March 16,  1950, Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada

 

Biographical Note:

John Clarence Webster was a world-renowned surgeon and medical educator.  His specialty area was gynaecology and obstetrics, practiced in various locations, such as:  Montreal, Edinburgh and Chicago.  He retired from medical practice in 1920, then taking up his avocation, as historian and community educator.  In 1926, Dr. Webster wrote, The Distressed Maritimes, a scathing report on the nature of formal education in Eastern Canada.  In particular, Dr. Webster was very critical of institutions of higher education, stating: 

They have failed to develop among the people a widespread love of culture, comparable to that which is found in most civilized countries....  They have not furnished the intellectual leadership so greatly needed in public life and in the economic development of the provinces. 

For the remainder of his life, Webster set out to counter the deficiencies he had found in his own native land.  A report written for the Canadian adult education journal, Food For Thought (1956), states the following:

Dr. Webster was convinced that the public museum could play a vital role in education.  He was, perhaps, more interested in educating and influencing adults than in the formal schooling of children but he felt that good pictorial records could be very important and appealing for those of all ages who have any historical instinct or imagination.

Dr. Webster travelled the Maritimes and other areas of Canada, providing historical lectures, illustrated by lantern show slides of images from his own collection of General Wolfe, Fort Louisbourg and the forts of the Chignecto region of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.  He was instrumental in the establishment of the New Brunswick Museum, Fort Beausejour National Historic Site and the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.  He published numerous pamphlets and articles, and ultimately donated his historical and cultural collections to public institutions of the Maritime region.

 

Notable Affiliations and Roles:

  • Fellow of the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and Canada

  • Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and of the College of Surgeons of America

  • Canadian Historical Association (President - 1932)

  • Member of the National Council of Education

  • Member of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (Chair 1943 - 1950)

  • Established a Department of Canadian History at the New Brunswick Museum

 

Selected Publications:

Canadian Association for Adult Education. (1956).  The Websters of Shediac.  Food For Thought, 16(6), 249-253.

Stanley, G. F. G. (1973).  John Clarence Webster: The Laird of Shediac.  Acadiensis, III(1), 51-71.

Thomas, G.A. (1990).  John Clarence Webster:  The Evolution and Motivation of an Historian 1922 - 1950.  An unpublished masters thesis, University of New Brunswick.

Webster, J. C.  (1926).  The Distressed Maritimes.  Toronto:  The Ryerson Press.

Webster, J. C. (1944).  Those Crowded Years. Shediac: Self Published.

 

Web Links:

 

 

Prepared May 26, 2003 - Don Chapman

 

 

 


 

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