Webster, Wentworth (1828-1907)

Wentworth Webster (1828-1907) is an English priest and folklorist. In 1869, he was sent to the French Basque Country as a chaplain. He then began, with Julien Vinson, to collect Basque folk tales, which he published in 1877 under the title Basque Legends, a book translated into French, Basque and Spanish. He was also interested in the Basque language, archaeology, Protestant churches in France, the development of Catholicism and the history of the Pyrenees. He was linked to many scholars of his time and his erudition led him to visit prestigious Englishmen staying in the Basque Country, including the King of England, Edward VII.

“Wentworth Webster and the Basque Question in Victorian Britain and Beyond”

David Hopkin, 2015

Wentworth Webster was born in Uxbridge 1829 and entered Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1849. He seems to have been very much an Oxford man — many of his correspondents were at Oxford and he left most of his papers to the Bodleian. Between university and his ordination, in 1861 he travelled in (…)

“Wentworth Webster and the Basque Question in Victorian Britain and Beyond”