Edmond established that Webster was the son of a prosperous coach maker, John Webster the elder, who was a member of the prestigious Company of Merchant Taylors (coach making was a relatively new trade, which did not have its own livery company). The Websters lived in London at the corner of Hosier Lane and Smithfield Street (then called Cow Lane), right next to what is now the Central Smithfield Meat Markets, and was in Webster's day the location of the famous St. Bartholomew's Fair, as well as a great horse fair, and center for other dealings in livestock. Webster's father married in 1577, and it is a reasonable inference that the baby who was to become the dramatist was born shortly afterward. (Webster had a brother, Edward, who was presumably younger.) Unfortunately, the parish records of St. Sepulchre, Holborn, were destroyed in the Great Fire of London, so it is not possible to obtain precise dates of birth, marriage, and death for Webster's family. Even so, documentary items survive, and it is possible to draw some reasonable inferences.
It seems probable that Webster was sent to the Merchant Taylors' School, probably in about 1587.
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