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At the Circulating Library

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

A Database of Victorian Fiction, 1837–1901

Author: William Davy Watson

Author: William Davy Watson (1811–1888)

Biography: William Davy Watson was born in 1811 in Kidderminster. He attended Hazelwood near Birmingham, University College London, and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he earned a B.A. in 1835 and an M.A. in 1837. Watson was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1837. He was an active journalist: he edited the Edinburgh Courant and served as the London correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. Watson wrote two novels—Trevethlan: A Cornish Story (1848) and The Lily of St. Paul's (1852)—and one poem Cache-Cache: A Tale in Verse (1862). According to his obituary, for more than twenty years, he "was a familiar figure at the Reform Club. His ready knowledge bore witness to his extensive reading." He never married and died in 1888 in London.

Author Tags:

References: Academy (11 February 1888); British Census (1881); Reilly

Fiction Titles:

  1. Trevethlan: A Cornish Story.  3 vol.  London: Smith, Elder, 1848.
  2. The Lily of St. Paul's: A Romance of Old London.  3 vol.  London: Smith, Elder, 1852.