Fonds MS-2-77 - K.G.T. Webster fonds

Kenneth Grant Tremayne Webster was a scholar of medieval literature who devoted his academic career to the study of medieval romances, castles and the art of war. He was born on 10 June 1871 to Dr. John R.L. Webster and Helen (Geddes) Webster, in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and was the fifth of six children (Helen, Charles, James, Isabella and Conrad). Webster graduated from Milton School before taking his BA Honours in English literature at Dalhousie University in 1892. He went on to study at Harvard University, where he earned a BA, MA and PhD in medieval literature, followed by a professorial appointment.

Webster wrote at least four monographs and a number of articles on medieval literature. He amassed a collection of postcards of castles, and built a considerable library to support his research on early European castles, a collection he bequeathed to Dalhousie University. He also had a passion for architectural restoration, and in 1913 bought the Barnard Capen House in Dorchester, Massachusetts, which he had moved to Milton, Massachusetts, where he restored it. In 1932 he purchased and restored the eighteenth-century Ross-Thompson House in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, which later became a provincial museum.

Webster was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dalhousie University in 1930. He died in 1942.