When John Holland Jnr Webster was born on July 15, 1826, in Great Ellingham, Norfolk, England, his father, John, was 30 and his mother, Eliza, was 20. He married Mary McDowall Smallhorn on August 26, 1852, in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. They had ten children in 19 years. He died on March 31, 1884, in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, at the age of 57, and was buried there.