Andrew Watson (1856-1921)

Footballer and marine engineer

Andrew Watson was born in Demerara, the son of Peter Watson, a Scottish sugar planter, and Hannah Rose, a local Guyanese woman. He moved to England with his father and sister to attend school. After his father’s death in 1869 he became financially independent. He studied engineering, natural philosophy and mathematics at the University of Glasgow but left to found a warehouse business. Andrew Watson went on to specialise in marine engineering alongside a successful career in football as a player and an administrator - the first person of colour to be involved in either role in Scotland. He played for Queen’s Park and for Scotland as well as several English teams. He was inducted in the Scottish Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

Find out more about his life in our feature Andrew Watson: Scotland’s First Black Footballer.

Marriage in 1877

Andrew Watson, 21, mechanical engineer (apprentice), married Jessie Nimmo Armour on 6 November 1877. The entry in the statutory register of marriages for the district of Tradeston in the County of Lanark gives his address as 97 Shields Road in Glasgow. The marriage took place at St Ninian’s Episcopal Church in Pollokshaws Road, Govan, after banns according to the forms of the Episcopal Church. His parents are recorded as Peter Miller Watson, sugar planter, and Anna Rose – both were deceased at the time of the marriage. The L outside the left-hand margin of the page indicates that this was in a landward part of the parish.

Marriage entry for Andrew Watson (71 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, 1877/644-13/100

1881 Census

Andrew Watson, Warehouseman (Dry goods) was enumerated at 15 Afton Crescent. The census return for the district of Govan and Govan Church gives his birthplace as Georgetown, Demerera and records that he was a British subject. The other members of the household are his wife, Jessie,  son, Rupert aged 2, and sister-in-law, Jane Maxwell, who was born in Millport in the county of Bute.

1881 census return for Andrew Watson (37 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, 1881/646-1/13, page 37

Second marriage in 1887

Andrew Watson, 30, engineer, widower, married Eliza-Kate Tyler on 10 February 1887. The entry in the statutory register of marriages for the district of Kelvin in the Burgh of Glasgow gives his address as 15 Florence Place. The marriage took place at that address after banns according to the forms of the Church of Scotland.

Second marriage entry for Andrew Watson (82 KB jpeg)
National Records of Scotland, 1887/644-9/54

1891 Census

In 1891 Andrew Watson was in Liverpool but his children were living with their grandparents in Houston Street Kinning Park (1891/644-14/11, page 17)