Historical note

James Robert Webster was born in England in 1857 and sailed to Natal in 1879. He settled in Durban and worked as a clerk for various firms. In 1887 he married Mary Ann Hammond in St Cyprian's Church, Durban.  Her father had once been Chief Lighthouse Keeper at Port Elizabeth. Three daughters were born of the marriage. Webster bought property in Umbilo Road and the family lived there for about 8 years. He named his house 'Ayott', after his original home at Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. (There is now an Ayott Road in the area.) The Websters were living at Amersfoort in the Transvaal when the South African (Anglo-Boer) War broke out and they had to leave hurriedly, losing most of their possessions. After another spell in Durban the Websters moved to Pietersburg (now Polokwane) in the Northern Transvaal (now the Limpopo Province), where James Webster became a prominent businessman and served as Mayor several times. He died in 1913 and his widow returned to live in Durban with her daughters.

James Robert Webster papers

The James Robert Webster papers are housed at the Campbell Collections, University of KwaZulu-Natal.  The photographs chiefly comprise pictures of James Robert Webster and his family, as well as a few pictures of early Durban (one of family at Congella Beach), and scenes in the former Northern Transvaal (one of Elim Hospital in 1908).  The photographs cover the late nineteenth century and early-to-mid twentieth century.

This collection of photographs are not originals, but are prints from negatives of photographs taken of the original pictures.