William Watson, Baron Watson
The Right Honourable The Lord Watson PC |
|
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Lord Advocate | |
In office 1876–1880 |
|
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | Benjamin Disraeli |
Deputy | John Macdonald Solicitor General for Scotland |
Preceded by | Edward Gordon |
Succeeded by | John McLaren |
Solicitor General for Scotland | |
In office 1874–1876 |
|
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | Benjamin Disraeli |
Preceded by | John Millar |
Succeeded by | John Macdonald |
Member of Parliament for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities |
|
In office 1876–1880 |
|
Preceded by | Edward Gordon |
Succeeded by | James Alexander Campbell |
Personal details | |
Born | 25 August 1828 Covington, Lanarkshire |
Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Margaret Bannatyne |
Residence | 20 Queen's Gate, South Kensington |
Alma mater | University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh |
Profession | Advocate |
William Watson, Baron Watson PC, LL.D (25 August 1827 – 14 September 1899)[1][2] was a Scottish lawyer and Conservative Party politician. He was Lord Advocate, the most senior Law Officer in Scotland, from 1876 to 1880, and was then appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
Early life
Watson was born in 1827, the son of the Reverend Thomas Watson, in Covington, Lanarkshire. He was educated privately and studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.[1] He was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1851[1] and appeared for the defence of Dr Edward William Pritchard, the poisoner, in 1865.[citation needed]
Career
Watson was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland, one of the Scottish Law Officers and deputy to the Lord Advocate, in 1874,[3] and was elected Dean of the Faculty of Advocates in 1875.[1] In 1876, the Lord Advocate, Edward Gordon, was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (Lord Gordon of Drumearn) and resigned as Lord Advocate and Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities. Watson won the ensuing by-election[4] and was appointed Lord Advocate.[5] He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1878.[6]
Watson did not stand for re-election at the 1880 general election,[4] and was instead appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary[7] as Baron Watson, of Thankerton in the County of Lanark.[7] As a member of the Privy Council, he was also entitled to sit on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Personal life
Watson married Margaret Bannatyne (1846-1898) in 1868, and the pair had five sons and a daughter. His son William also became a law lord as Lord Thankerton. Watson lived at 20 Queen's Gate in South Kensington, and was a member of the Athenæum and the Carlton Club.[1]
He is buried in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh against the north wall, of the Victorian north extension, near the north-west corner.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 1)[self-published source][better source needed]
- ↑ London Gazette 24 July 1874
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ London Gazette 13 October 1876
- ↑ London Gazette 2 April 1878.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 London Gazette 27 April 1880
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Watson
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities 1876–1880 |
Succeeded by James Alexander Campbell |
Legal offices | ||
Preceded by | Solicitor General for Scotland 1874–1876 |
Succeeded by John Macdonald |
Preceded by | Lord Advocate 1876–1880 |
Succeeded by John McLaren |
- Accuracy disputes from March 2012
- Articles lacking reliable references from March 2012
- Wikipedia articles incorporating an LRPP-MP template with two unnamed parameters
- EngvarB from August 2014
- Use dmy dates from August 2014
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from December 2010
- 1827 births
- 1899 deaths
- Scottish judges
- Law lords
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for university constituencies
- UK MPs 1874–80
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- Members of the Faculty of Advocates
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- Solicitors General for Scotland
- Lords Advocate
- Alumni of the University of Glasgow