John Watson (antiquary)

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John Watson (1725–1783) was an English clergyman and antiquary from Cheshire. Born in Lyme Handley on 26 March 1725, he was the son of Legh Watson and Hester Watson. He studied at grammar schools in Eccles, Wigan, and Manchester, then attended Brasenose College, Oxford, where he earned a BA in 1745 and an MA in 1748. In 1746 he was elected to a Cheshire fellowship at Brasenose.

Watson was ordained in 1746 and held several church positions. He began at Runcorn, then moved to Ardwick in Manchester as a tutor to the Birch family. From 1750 to 1754 he was the curate of Halifax, and in 1754 he became the perpetual curate of Ripponden in Halifax parish. In 1766 he was inducted to the rectory of Miningsby in Lincolnshire, and in 1769 he was promoted to the rectory of Stockport in Cheshire. He was known for his Whig political views.

As an antiquary, Watson was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1759 and wrote six papers for Archæologia on Roman and other topics. His major works include The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax (1775) and Memoirs of the Ancient Earls of Warren and Surrey and their Descendants (1782). The latter, a two-volume work with many illustrations, argued that Watson’s patron, Sir George Warren, had a claim to the earldom of Warenne and Surrey. He also published four pamphlets between 1751 and 1764, including a critique of the Moravian hymn-book. His extensive manuscript collections on Cheshire history were preserved and later used by other antiquaries.

Watson was praised by his contemporary Gilbert Wakefield as a hard-working and agreeable scholar. He is mentioned in the Palatine Note-book for a visit by Thomas Barritt in 1780. He married twice: first to Susanna Allon in 1752, and then to Ann Jacques in 1761. He had three children in total—one son with Susanna and a son and a daughter with Ann. John Watson died in Stockport on 14 March 1783.