This a small part of of the book.. This is copied from the original draft which I have.

A MAN FOR HIS TIME 
WILLIAM WATSON (1833 - 1906)

by
Barbara H. Reynolds nee Watson

Thanks are due to Shelagh O’Byrne Spencer, Elsie Watson and Jennifer Beck, who all made information they had available to me - and to Cynthia Siedle for her never-ending interest avid encouragement.

To many of the immigrants arriving in Natal during the 1840"s and 1850's, the colony offered a complete change from the dirty, slum-like conditions of their home towns and cities, to the clean, fresh air of their allocated farms and town sites, even if it meant living in tents or shacks for some time. Leeds, for instance, was inspected in 1840 by the Health of Towns Committee who reported:  All the streets and dwellings in this ward are stated to be more or less deficient, in sewerage, unpaved, full of holes, with deep channels formed by rain intersecting the roads and annoying the passengers, some times rendered untenantable by the overflowing of the sewers and other more offensive drains with ash holes, etc. exposed to public view and never emptied.

But there were other arrivals, coming from comfortable hones in more salubrious areas, who were prepared to face all the ordeals of the colonists. Such a one was William Watson,who travelled out on the ''John Bright'' as a cabin passengers. He was the son of William Tottie Watson (1795 - 1864) and Jane Margrave. Watson, Senior, the son of Thomas Watson and Elizabeth Tottie, was a wool and stuff dyer and a partner in the firm of Burt and Burt, wool merchants. He was a cultured man who, according to the visas on his passport, travelled often to France. On 12th May, 1824, he married Jane Hargrave, the eldest of three daughters of a Leeds business man, at St Peter's Church in Leeds.

At some time Watson leased land and a large house at Far Headingley, then a village outside Leeds, which was a far-healthier place then Leeds itself. He preferred to travel to and from his business rather than have his family live in town. He was something of an expert, too, on horses and kept a stable not only for horses for his carriage, but for riding.

Eight children, four boys and four girls were born to Watson and his wife, two of the daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, dying in infancy. Thomas, the eldest son followed his father into the business, a flourishing concern which fulfilled large contracts for blankets and great-coats ordered by the military and naval authorities for the United States, amongst others.

The Watson boys apparently went to a local school. Wherever they went it is clear from the almost calligraphic excellence of his writing and the historical and literary references in his diaries that the second son, William received a very good education.

It appears that the Watsons were a typical "mi llocratic'' family, comfortably off and by all accounts, a happy family. Leaving his business in the hands of his partner, William took his wife on an extended holiday to the Continent, after-purchasing land in Headingley where he intended to build his own house.

There was a great deal of dabbling in shares,  particularly railway shares, at that time. Watson returned from his holiday to find that his partner had succumbed to temptation and had used the firm's money to buy shares on which he lost heavily. Watson was faced with near bankruptcy and was forced to sell his land and cut down heavily on home expenses. Not only did he face troubles in his business, but his domestic responsibilities were increased by the death of his wife in 1849.

Thomas, the eldest son, then 25 years old, was offered the opportunity of either starting another business in Leeds or going out to the colonies to establish a business, in either case, being guided by his father. He refused both offers.

At that time, Yorkshire, like other English counties, was plastered with posters, offering opportunities to emigrate to Natal, notably by Byrne, but also by others. Emigrant ships were sailing fairly regularly from London, Southampton, Hull and other ports and they also offered cabin class passages at reasonable rates to travel to Port Natal. Watson, no doubt saw them and investigated the possibilities. His son, William, who was born in 1833 and was still at school, accepted his father's offer to travel to Natal and to buy farms and go into business on behalf of his father.

Thus in December, 1850 the young William Watson, only 17 years old, boarded the 'John Bright', a ship that Byrne had hired to take emigrants out to Natal. The ship left from London. The Byrne emigrants travelled in great discomfort in the steerage class, but those going out to Natal on their own initiative, travelled cabin class where accommodation and food was a great deal better than that below.

On board the John Bright was Miss Sarah Crowder, a young lady who kept a diary of events on board ship. To her, we are indebted for the story of William's temper.

Apparently, two fellow passengers, Joseph Barrup and Henry F James, blackened William's face while he slept. When he woke, he failed to see the funny side of things and struck out with his sword, narrowly missing injuring James very badly. He was put in chains overnight and kept in his cabin. His cabin mate, Barrup, one of those who had blackened his face. chose to take his bedding and sleep up on deck rather than share his cabin overnight, to prevent ,according to Miss Crowder, 'another dark deed from being done.'

The following day the captain who had planned to hand William over to the authorities when the ship reached Port Natal was relieved to find that complaints against William were withdrawn, provided than an apology was made. This William did and Miss Crowder mentions that "Mr Watson skulked about the deck". She also records that he had been a problem to his father and that was his reason for being sent to the colonies. There is nothing to support her theories.

Undoubtedly the young lady with the Victorian love of melodrama made the most of the incident. Young William must have been extremely relieved to land at Port Natal on 8th May, 1851.

William's father had authorised Mr  F.W. Good to buv him a farm in the Klip River region and in October, 1851, he purchased the farm. Opperman's Kraal and, acting on further instructions, a second farm Schuurfde Poort in Weenen county. William settled on Opperman's Kraal, building himself a ''house", which was probably not much better than a hut, and investing in cattle and horses.

Unfortunately, Mr Good was drowned in January, 1852, in the Tugela River and new powers of attorney had to be drawn up. It took time for all the deeds and transfers to be made and on January 14.th, 1853, Watson wrote from Leeds to the Secretary of the government asking about payment of certain fees. In his letter, Watson explained that William was in the country to see if he liked it and that his son was very young and inexperienced and "had been chicaned to some extent'' and that he had lost his friend, Mr Good. Another agent, Mr A.J.C. Bouwer had been appointed to act on Watson's behalf and a note on Watson's letter-states that Schuurfde Poort had been transferred into Watson's name. On 16th March, 1853, Qpperman's Kraal was also transferred into Watson's name.

Schuurfde Poort lay on the Colenso side of the Tugela. opposite to where the Tugela river was .joined by the Klip and was b 000 acres in extent. A sum of £300 was spent in purchasing it. Opperman's Kraal where young William settled, lay at the foot of the Drakensberg 'somewhere between Van Reenen and Tintwa.

William, aged only 19, stayed at Opperman's Kraal. He was on the farm during the great, snowstorm of September, 1852. Fortunately for his animals, he had a wagon loaded with thatch7 with which a hut was to be built, but this was fed to his cattle and horses which, with efforts to protect them, saved their lives. Unfortunately, nothing could be done for the wild animals and thousands of buck and other animals perished in the cold.

While still on the farm, William was called by a distraught farmer Mr Rademeyer, who had come to Natal from the Free State to buy cattle. He had bought about twenty and he engaged an Hottentot woman to help drive them back. While going through some bushja lion had attacked and taken off the woman. Rademeyer had no rifle nor other weapon with him and he tried to drive the oxen over the lion, but the oxen scattered in all directions. William put Rademeyer up for the night and the next morning helped find the oxen. Nothing, of course, could be done about the unfortunate woman.

Early in 1853, William left Opperman's Kraal, arranging for both farms to be leased to Free State farmers for grazing purposes. Watson had arranged to send out merchandise for a store and William went to Ladysmith to make ready.

William built a shop in Murchison Street on Erf no 2, Block W, with rooms for himself and stables of green brick with a thatched roof and then set up a general dealer's store, his father sending regular consignments of goods. It seems that it-was very popular with the Boer farmers who would trek long distances to buy there and who called it the ^'Goedkoop Winkel.' Sir Benjamin Pine called on him when he visited Ladysmith mainly to see and discuss William's horses which, it seems, were very fine animals.

There were no banks in Ladysmith, so money had to be kept in safe places until it could be arranged to take the money to Pietermaritzburg. William with money to be banked in strong leather bags strapped to a spare horse, rode, accompanied by an African, down to Pietermaritzburg to bank his father's profits. He always took two loaded horse pistols with him on such trips. His son, "Tottie, writing his memoirs mentioned an amount of £3000 on occasion.

In 1854, the Natal Frontier Guard was founded by Major Kelly, who was the Magistrate at Ladysmith. William enlisted and though only twenty or twenty-one was a sergeant-major and drill instructor. A photograph of him, taken when he was older shows him in the uniform of the Natal Frontier Guards, complete with sword, presumably the same that he had used on board ship. William was one of those who tried unsuccessfully to capture the rebel Zulu chief, Matwaan, who later led one of the victorious impis at the battle of Isandhlwana.

William must surely have been delighted when his younger brother, Richard, joined him in August, 1854, to obtain title to the farm Oppermans Kraal. On 5th April, 1855, Richard was crossing the Klip River on horseback, using the ford in Ladysmith. The water rose suddenly and in full view of helpless bystanders, man and horse were drowned. Richard's body was found a week later near the Klip River Falls. His father sent a red granite tomb stone for his grave and erected another in his memory in Headingley.

Ladysmith was a small town with a population of about 100 in the 1850's. William joined in the various social activities and on one occasion was at a dance in the Crown Hotel. Remembering that he had left his money in his shop,, he returned, wrapped the profits of about £200 in a silk handkerchief and returned to the dance, asking the proprietor of the hotel to safeguard the cash. Next morning, when William opened the shop he found that burglars had broken a window and had opened the cash box and other boxes as well in their search for money. Candle grease was liberally spattered over the counter. Obviously the burglars had known that he was at the dance, but whoever they were, they escaped and were never caught.

In 1863, the youngest Watson boy came out from England. Arthur, however, was not impressed with Natal and returned home. Later he went to Australia, where he had shares in two copper mines' Some years later, William notified the Master of the Supreme Court that no trace could be found of Arthur. At that time, the Master was dealing with Richard's will.

In Ladysmith at that time was a fellow Yorkshire man, Thomas Dickenson Wright, who had come out to Natal under the Byrne Immigration Scheme. He had travelled on the ''Washington'' which had left from London and arrived at Port Natal on .July 18th, 1849. Aboard was a widow, Mrs Emma Inman and her four children, Emma Lavinia, Thomas, Alfred and Clara. John Morland, Byrne's agent, was also on board and in his diary he recounts with shock and dismay the liaison between Wrig and Mrs Inman. Apparently, he writes, there were carrying on an affair which had started some time before in Yorkshire.

Immediately on their arrival banns were called for the marriage of Wright and Mrs Inman and it was learnt that she was not a widow but a single woman. It seems that while living in Yorkshire, there had been some obstacle to their marriage, since they were married as soon as possible after their arrival and Wright recognised the four children as his own, when all were baptised.

The Wrights had settled at Slangspruit near Pietermaritzburg on land allocated to them under the Byrne scheme. Like the other-settlers in that area , they found it impossible to eke out a living on the barren land which Byrne had bought and they left, moving up to Ladysmith where Wright opened up a butcher's shop. Four more children were born to them.

William met and married the eldest daughter, Emma Lavinia who had been born in Yorkshire in c. 1838. They were married on 13th October, 1858, at St. John's Church in Ladysmith, the clergy being the Rev James Green and the Rev Joseph Barker.

William built a stone house in Princess Street for his bride, the house which stood for many years, until it was demolished. It was comfortable enough for William and his family, but a far cry from the large house at Headingley where he had grown up. His eldest, daughter, Annie was born in 1859, followed by a son, William Tottie in 1861, a daughter Frances (known in the family as Tarn) in 1863, and two more sons, Richard born in 1865 and Edward Eyre (Ned) in 1868.

Always interested in gardening, William had flower seeds and fruit stones sent out to him from Yorkshire and had in time a flourishing orchard of peach trees. According to his son, Tottie. he was the first person to have peaches other than the Cape yellow cling stone, and had white free stone and white and pink free stone peaches. He planted the seeds of syringas which grew to be his pride and joy. His flower garden was always a picture and William seems to have been a very contented family man.

His father-in-law, Thomas Wright died in January, 1861, and in December of that year, his widow Emma, married John Rose Malcolm Watson (no relation to William). Wright had left her in a very comfortable position. She had the Crown Hotel in Pietermaritzburg from 30th March, 1865, until about 1871. She also had a hotel in Ladysmith and was proprietor of the Bridge Hotel and store at Bushman"s River and the Alice Bridge Hotel near Estcourt.

It was not long before matters changed. In October, 1864, William's father died in Leeds and it was discovered that he had left his entire estate to his eldest son, Thomas. It seems to have been an unfair will for it left his daughter, Mary, who had not married, penniless. Thomas was married and had one daughter, Marion, who married a doctor in Leeds. Arthur was not married nor was Mary, but Ann married a widower, G.T. Young, a wine merchant in Leeds. This meant that William's shop and the farms had to be sold in the estate.

One would like to have thought that Thomas Watson would share his fortune and make over the store to William, but the shop was put up for sale. William continued as storekeeper until the business was sold a few years later. The two farms were sold at an excellent profit. William seems to have been without any source of revenue, unless his brother helped him.

Back in 1865, Tottie recalls his father leaving with the Natal Frontier Guard to find hundreds of cattle which the Basutos had driven from the Bergville and Little Tugela areas. Tottie wrote that he could remember "seeing my father's two horses saddled up, and standing just- by the front door with his native after-rider as they were called. It was about sundown, my father-was in his uniform and had rifle and sword and had come to say good-bye to my mother.

The Natal Frontier Guards returned without any cattle. The Basutos with their mountain ponies knew ail the narrow pathways up the Berg and had disappeared over the border with the stolen cattle.

William''s son, Tottie, remembers seeing his father put all his kit on the table when he returned - rifle, sword, ammunition and the leather cartridge case which was worn with a strap across the shoulders, and haversack. Tottie was intrigued by the cartridge case and the ammunition which his father showed him and asked if he could have them . William explained to his son that they belonged to the Queen and told him about Queen Victoria, an incident which struck the young Tottie's mind as the first time he had heard of the Queen.

In the same year, there was a hailstorm with stones the size of tennis balls on Christmas Eve. Every peach and leaf was stripped from William's orchard and his garden smashed by the stones.

Tottie went in 1866 to a school, held in the English Church by the Misses Hendiey, along with boys whose names are familiar to Ladysmith people - the Field boys, Willie Adams, Alec Nicholson, Willie Roberts, Tom Allan, Alec Maritz and the Good boys. The school apparently did not last long, for another was started by the Rev. W.Q. Newnham in about- 1870. The Rev Newnham who was later to go to Pietermaritsburg and found Hilton College, lived in one of William's houses to which he added a school room.

Ladysmith, with its whitewashed houses on large erfs was a frontier town in the 1860's of less than a hundred inhabitants. Three Voortrekkers - Ignaas Maritz. brother of Gert, Conrad Pietersen and Abram Spies, farmed in the Ladysmith area, as did the Land Surveyor, Charles Tebbutt Bell, and Marius Cauvin.

Emma Wright died in 1871 and William recorded in the family Bible, 'My dear, dear wife passed away at about 3 a.m.' This meant that William was left with five small children, Annie, the eldest, being 12 and Ned, the youngest, only three years old. Undoubtedly his mother-in-law helped him and Tottie was to write of long holidays spent with her at the Bridge Hotel in Estcourt

Exactly what William and his family lived on, is not clear but Tottie recalls consignments of clothes and groceries sent out by Thomas to his brother. In 1874, his son, Richard died.

During 1881, he carried on a massive correspondence with the Editor of the Natal Witness, expressing his opinions forcefully. The Editor was sufficiently impressed to offer him a post as correspondent in Ladysmith, a post which he dismissed rather scornfully - not for him, the chasing after news and mixing in the social life of the townspeople.

There is little information about. William and his family, except a reference to William as "a gentleman in Ladysmith. until July, 1882, when he was appointed Constable and Foreman of the Ladysmith Town Board. He wrote in his diary : -

• 'General Instructions, July 20th, 1882. To go and search for freestone - To attend to the sluits and see that one person does not get all the water. To keep a watchful eye on the streets and maintain order therein using the kaffir police when necessary. Not to be particular as to set hours but to be always ready day or night when called upon for duty - Not expected to be always patrolling the streets - To take final look around at 9 p.m. If I am wanted after this time, people must send for me. Heal times as usual. Knock off duty at 6 p.m. These instructions were given to me by the Chairman and Clerk of the Local Board on the day I first went on duty. ''

From the notes kept by William, it was not a very fulfilling job, but he needed the salary of £10 month. What crime there was was of a petty nature, and Watson was very upset when he was called in for more serious crimes, such as that of stabbing. He seemed to have had feuds with other Ladysmith residents, and his comments were often pithy and sarcastic. At times, he gives the impression of being both irase i b1e and vindictive.

William realised that he did not have the choicest of jobs and wrote disparagingly of it in his dairy: I am a policeman but I don't think I am a blackguard as most policemen are. I never press a doubtful charge. As for zeal, I think what the Board calls "a most efficient and zealous officer" the biggest scoundrel unhung. Well, I am, not zealous, I only earn my wages. I fear my successor will not be a gentleman, as I am There is a good deal of truth in the preceding line. Nearly all constables are atrocious scoundrels, much worse than theiQfen Umv i.'uu_lii. Never the 1ess>what I have written looks very much like the story of the Pharisee and the Publican who went into the temple to pray.'

Again there is no clear indication of when William left his work and became a gentleman of leisure. His notes come to an abrupt end in July, 1887, but it is possible that some of his diaries have been lost. On the other hand, he had been foced to apologise to the Board during June of that year and it could be that they decided to dismiss him.

In 1888,  his elder daughter, Annie,  met and married John Patrick Grey-Cunningham, a dentist from the Paarl area in the Cape.

This will be carried on in time. This is also where the history of my Grandmother (Cicely Natalie Quested nee Cunningham) starts