Richard Webster (British author)

Richard Webster
Richard Webster, 2009
Born	(1950-12-17)17 December 1950 Newington, Kent
Died	24 June 2011(2011-06-24) (aged 60)
Occupation	Author
Nationality	United Kingdom
Education	University of East Anglia
Subject	Blasphemy, free speech, Sigmund Freud, abuse allegations
Notable works	A Brief History of Blasphemy, Why Freud Was Wrong, The Secret of Bryn Estyn

Richard Webster (17 December 1950 – 24 June 2011) was a British author. His five published books deal with subjects such as the controversy over Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses (1988), Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, and the investigation of sexual abuse in Britain. Born in Newington, Kent, Webster studied English literature at the University of East Anglia and lived in Oxford, England. He became interested in the problem of false allegations partly due to reading the work of historian Norman Cohn.

In A Brief History of Blasphemy (1990), Webster discussed the Muslim response to The Satanic Verses and argues against unrestricted freedom of speech. The book was praised by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury. In Webster's subsequent book Why Freud Was Wrong (1995), he argued that Freud became a Messiah figure and that psychoanalysis is a disguised continuation of the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The book was praised by several commentators. In The Secret of Bryn Estyn: The Making of a Modern Witch Hunt (2005), Webster discussed a care home for adolescent boys that became the focus of press revelations and a police investigation for child abuse that spread across a number of residential homes in North Wales, and argued that abuse scandals could be phenomena created by public hysteria. The book was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize.

Webster, the son of a subpostmaster, was born in 1950, in Newington, Kent, and raised in a strict Methodist family; according to journalist Bob Woffinden, "His parents' work ethic meant he had much time to himself, leading to independence of thought and intellectual rebellion." He attended Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent and graduated in English and American studies from the University of East Anglia. Webster returned to the University to teach in 1974 and 1975 and started a PhD, which he did not complete. When his father became ill, Webster ran the family post office, which had been shifted to Cambridge.