Early life Clara Vestris Webster was born in
Bath, Somerset, England, at an unknown date in 1821 and was
baptised at
Bath Abbey on 24 December 1821, the eldest child to Benjamin Webster and his second wife, Mary (
née Higgs). She had three siblings, two brothers and a sister, and six paternal half-siblings, four half-brothers and two half-sisters.
Education Webster studied dance in Bath with her father, who had studied with the French dancer
Auguste Vestris, thus her middle name.
Career Webster made her professional debut at the
Theatre Royal, Bath in 1830, at the age of nine, with a
pas de deux with her brother, Arthur. She was one of the first British dancers to perform the
cachucha and the
tyrolienne, the latter which she danced with her brother. Her death came at 3:10AM. Three days earlier, her dress had caught fire when the light drapery came in contact with an
oil lamp during the bath scene in the closing performance of the 1833 ballet
The Revolt of the Harem at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She suffered severe burns to her arms, bosom, and face, and was transported to the home of Dr. Locock in
Hanover Square, Westminster, who took her to
King's College Hospital. The
coroner's inquest into her death took place in
West Middlesex the day after her death. She was buried in the
family vault at
Kensal Green Cemetery in the
Kensal Green area of
North Kensington on 24 December (Christmas Eve) 1844. == References ==