Leslie Elizabeth Webster, (born 8 November 1943) is an English retired museum curator and art historian of Anglo-Saxon and Viking art. She worked from 1964 until 2007 at the British Museum, rising to Keeper, where she curated several major exhibitions, and published many works, on the Anglo-Saxons and Early Middle Ages.
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Early life and education
Leslie Elizabeth Webster was born on 8 November 1943 to James Lancelot Dobson and Elizabeth Marjorie Dobson (née Dickenson). After attending Central Newcastle High School she matriculated at Westfield College at the University of London, where in 1964 she received a Bachelor of Arts with first class honours.
Career
Following her graduation from Westfield, Webster began work at the British Museum, serving from 1964 to 1969 as assistant keeper of the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities. In 1969 the department was split in two and Webster moved to the newly-structured Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities (in 2000 renamed the Department of Medieval and Modern Europe), serving as assistant keeper until 1985, from then until 2002 as deputy keeper, and during 2002–2003 as the acting keeper. The departments were merged back into one body in 2002, the Department of Prehistory and Europe, of which Webster served as Keeper from 2003 until her 2007 retirement.