In addition to his career in academia, Webster worked extensively in the
Foreign Office, especially in the United States, and was a leading supporter of the new United Nations, as he had been of the
League of Nations.
Life
After studying at Cambridge, Webster became professor of international relations at the
University of Wales, Aberystwyth where he wrote his two major books on the foreign policy of
Lord Castlereagh, the first (published in 1925) covering the period 1815–1822, the second (published in 1931) that from 1812 to 1815. In 1932 Webster moved to the newly established Stevenson chair of international relations at the LSE.
During World War II, he worked extensively in the
Foreign Office, especially in the United States, and was a leading supporter of the new United Nations, as he had been of the
League of Nations. He was involved in the drafting of the
UN Charter.[1]
He attended the first meetings of both the General Assembly and the Security Council in January 1946 and the final meeting of the League of Nations in April. He was made a
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in the new year's honours list of 1946.
Career
In 1948, Webster gave the
Ford Lectures at Oxford University. In 1951, his biography of
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston was finally published. He was President of the
British Academy in 1950. He was awarded honorary degrees from Oxford, Cambridge, Wales, Rome, and
Williams College, Massachusetts, and was made an honorary fellow of King's College, Cambridge. He retired from his chair at the LSE in 1953.
Professor of Modern History, Liverpool University, 1914–1922
Subaltern in the Royal Army Service Corps, 1915–1917
General Staff of the War Office, 1917–1918
Secretary, Military Section, British Delegation to the Conference of Paris, 1918–1919
Wilson Professor of International Politics, University of Wales, 1922–1932