Person    | Male  Born 9/5/1771  Died 30/1/1855

Joshua Watson

Philanthropist, educationalist and prominent lay churchman. Born Tower Hill. Went into his father's wine merchant business. 1811 he took the house at Clapton. A leading member of the "Hackney Phalanx" a high-church coterie. Here the National Society for Promoting Religious Education, still going in 2015, was founded, along with a number of other organisations with similar aims. 

About 1822-1840 he lived at 6 Park Street Westminster where he was busy with Parliament promoting church building.

The Hackney plaque is confident that Watson returned to the same house in Clapton but we can find no confirmation of this and it seems unlikely, unless perhaps members of his family moved in when he moved out. He spent the remaining 15 years with his late wife's sister and family at Clapton (but we can find no actual address) and in Daventry with his brother's wife and family. Died Clapton.

2023: Mr Little wrote with evidence of Watson's addresses: "I found confirmation that Watson returned to the SAME house in Clapton, as members of his family did move in when he moved out. Check Memoir of Joshua Watson, Volume 2, Edward Churton: " ... and removed to the house at Clapton which had been his abode before he lived in Westminster, and which was now the residence of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Snaith, with her brother and daughter." Check Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the ..., Page 55, Volume 2, Joseph Phillimore: "I give and bequeath to my dear wife Jane Snaith, ... the use, free of taxes and outgoings, for the period of TWO YEARS from my decease, of my freehold and copyhold house, lands, and premises at Wanstead aforesaid, (our residence) ..."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Joshua Watson

Commemorated ati

Joshua Watson

Joshua Watson, philanthropist, educationalist and prominent lay churchman, li...

Read More

Other Subjects

Dinah Fryer

Dinah Fryer

Born in 1954, Dinah Fryer was an Australian history schoolteacher at Golden Grove High School in Adelaide, South Australia, who was on her first overseas trip with her husband Chris Fryer and their...

Person, Education, Tragedy, Australia, Southeast Asia

1 memorial
Royal Military Academy

Royal Military Academy

Founded as an academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. Originally located in a converted workshop of the Royal Arsenal and so popularly known as...

Building, Armed Forces, Education

2 memorials
St Luke's Parochial Schools

St Luke's Parochial Schools

St Luke's Old Street Conservation Plan (a pdf) refers to "History of St Luke's School" by M. Routledge, 1989, a book or leaflet, we assume.

Building, Education

6 memorials
East 15 Acting School

East 15 Acting School

Founded by Margaret Walker after she worked with Joan Littlewood at the Theatre Royal in Stratford, and had the same ethos of inclusivity and radical work. It was named after the postal district of...

Group, Education, Theatre

1 memorial
Amy Johnson Junior School

Amy Johnson Junior School

Former primary school, presumably named for Amy Johnson, the connection being the (sort of) proximity of Croydon Airport.

Building, Children, Education

1 memorial