Philip Carteret Webb

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Born in Wiltshire on August 14 1702, Philip Carteret Webb was a barrister by profession, and deeply involved with the eighteenth-century antiquarian movement.[1] He became a member of the London ‘Society of Antiquaries’ in 1747, and as its lawyer, was responsible for securing the incorporation of the Society in 1751. This act was crucial in putting the society on level terms, in terms of finance and national prestige, with the Royal Society, which some antiquaries saw as a rival.[2]

Webb is remembered for being an agent of the crown in the ‘North Briton’ scandal (1763), assisting Robert Wood to seize the papers of radical journalist John Wilkes, whose inflammatory writings had offended the king.

[edit] External Link

Link to Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry [1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ G. Treasure, "Webb, Philip Carteret (1702-1770)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
  2. ^ R. Sweet, Antiquaries: The Discovery of the Past in Eighteenth-Century Britain,(Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 2004), pp.89-91