Author: Watt, William
Biography:
WATT, William (c. 1804-69: findmypast.com)
The first edition of Remarks on Shooting is dated “August, 1835” from Islington (north London) and dedicated to a fellow-sportsman, E. H. Martin, Esq. In a preface the author explains that the contents form the latter part of a manuscript entitled “Johnny ***** or, The Adventures of a Sportsman” that had been circulating in manuscript among their friends: the “remarks” of the title are supposed to have been addressed by Johnny to a gathering at a village alehouse. The second enlarged edition of 1839 includes extracts from several complimentary reviews from sporting magazines and others. It is essentially a didactic work covering various aspects of the sport—the gun, the dog, etc.—and well aware of the long literary tradition of such works. Although the 1839 title-page refers also to “Piscatory Verses” by Watt, that reference appears to be to their partial publication in The Sportsman in 1836 and not to a separate volume. In the census of 1861 William Watt is recorded as head of the household and owner of the house at 48 Huntingdon St. in Islington, a widower aged 56 born in the parish of St. Andrews, Holborn, living at that point with his older unmarried sister Caroline. (His marriage might have been to Hannah Summerton on 9 Dec. 1833, with no corresponding birth records for children.) He died at 62 Westbourne Rd., Arundel Square, Islington, on 15 June 1869, leaving effects valued at under £1500 with his sister as sole executrix; he was buried at Finchley cemetery. The Islington Gazette, to which he had been an occasional contributor, praised his generosity as a writer and philanthropist, while noting that since he had “ample means,” he “never aspired to be more than an amateur author.” (findmypast.com 27 Apr. 2024; The Sportsman ns 1 [1836], 331-2; Islington Gazette 22 June 1869; North Londoner 26 June 1869) HJ
Other Names:
- W. Watt