David Webster (1864 - 1937)

Born 1864 in Ipswich, Queensland (Australia)

Husband of Clara Amy (Porter) Webster — married 12 Dec 1886 in South Brisbane, Queensland (Australia)

Died 1937 at about age 73 in Queensland, Australia

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Biography

David Webster is Notable.

David Webster was born in 1864 in Ipswich, Queensland (Australia). He was the third surviving son of Scottish emigrants, John Webster and Margaret Ramsey. ^[1] The family moved to Grandchester, in the Lockyer Valley where John purchased a farm. Along with his brothers, David started school in 1872 when Calvert State School opened. Showing no inclination towards life on the family farm, by 1880, David moved to Toowoomba and was apprenticed to Webb Brothers, bakers. ^[2]

Setting out in business

In 1883, having completed his apprenticeship, David, still a teenager, came to Brisbane and entered into a partnership with Norman McLeod; establishing a bakery in Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley that traded as Webster & McLeod (the building is today the Judith Wright Centre). ^[2] The following year, David bought out the McLeod interest and moved the business to South Brisbane. The 1885 Post Office Directory listed him as sole trader at Boggo Road. ^[2]

Marriage

David married Clara Porter on 12th December 1886 in Vulture Street Baptist Church, South Brisbane. ^[3] The newly-wedded couple walked from the church to the factory premises as they were to live above the shop on the bakery premises which had frontages to Annerley Road, Nelson Street and Walton Street. Clara apparently dreaded living there, as there 'were many rats'.

Webster's Cakes & Biscuits

Webster's Cakes and Biscuit Factories

In the early days, Clara used to walk the surrounding suburbs with a basket over her arm selling bakery items door to door. As the business prospered and diversified into cakes and biscuits, bread making was moved from Annerley Road to a new bakery established on the corner of Gladstone Road and Grantham Street. David’s business grew partly as a direct result of his use of the most modern machinery then known. David imported most of this machinery from America.

David also diversified his business by opening tearooms and cafés with several in Queen Street at 79, 81 (Imperial Café), 142, 200 (Central Café), 270 (Post Office Café) and 368. Others were located at George Street, Brunswick Street, Ann Street, Stanley Street, and Wynnum South. The most recent ones are Haddon Hall in Queen Street and Yorktown and Shingle Inn in Edward Street.

David also branched out into catering and hosted several large and significant events including regal and vice-regal visits to Queensland. He was well known in business circles with Who’s Who listing him as the inaugural President of West End Arctic Ice and sister company, Townsville Arctic Ice, fore-runners of Peter’s Ice Cream.

After David’s death, the businesses continued to be run by his three remaining sons, Jim – bread, Bert – cakes and biscuits, and Wilfred – cafés and catering and, after Bert’s death, the whole business).

Webster Queen Street Tearooms

Faith

David was a committed Christian, and he and Clara taught Sunday school for many years as well as David serving as president of the Queensland Baptist Union. His faith carried him through the tough times of losing their infant daughter, Millie to whooping cough, son Roy killed in action in France, and son Cyril in 1934.

Death

David Webster passed away, aged 73 years, in 1937 at Brisbane, Queensland. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Queensland Birth Index #1864/C/554
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Under the Lino: David Webster; accessed 20 Aug 2019
3. ↑ Queensland Marriage Index #1886/B/11089
4. ↑ Queensland Death Index #1937/B/36074