Author: Webber, Edward William
Biography:
WEBBER, Edward William (1805-25: ancestry.co.uk)
He was baptised on 9 Sept. 1805 at Withycombe Raleigh, near Exmouth, Devon, the youngest son of William Webber and Jane Frances Wood, who had married at Farnham, Surrey, in 1786. Nothing is known of his education but a note in the Bodleian copy of Julia; or, The Pilgrim, listed here, states that “The Author of these Poems was a young Attorney accustomed to opium eating--He stabbed himself at the house of Mr. Leyson Lewis, of Llandilo, on the first of January 1828.” Also in a contemporary hand is the attribution “Webber” on the title page. The British Library, National Library of Wales (NLW) and Harvard copies are unattributed. The manuscript note is not entirely accurate--Webber was a legal clerk, not an attorney, and the 1828 year of death is incorrect. Letters in NLW confirm his death in 1825 and that he worked as a clerk for the attorney Leyson Lewis. Furthermore, the volume was clearly a posthumously edited production. The Preface states “I wished to bring to light the early productions of a very dear friend, whose genius and talents were blighted by an untimely death. I have added one or two of my own for the sake of completing the volume.” The unknown editor dedicated the work to Walter Scott. Webber’s date of death was therefore 1 Jan. 1825 and he was buried on 7 Jan. at Llandilo Fawr, Carmarthenshire, Wales. He never married. (ancestry.co.uk 20 Aug. 2023; Bath Chronicle 27 Jan. 1825; Monthly Magazine Mar. 1825, 191; Leyson Lewis, Mss Letters [1820-25], NLW, Ms. 11768E) AA