Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Watson, John
WATSON, JOHN, who wrote under the pseudonym of Ian Maclaren (1850–1907), presbyterian divine and author, born at Manningtree, Essex, on 3 Nov. 1850, was only child of John Watson (d. 1 Jan. 1879), a clerk in the civil service, who subsequently became receiver-general of taxes in Scotland, by his wife Isabella Maclaren. He came of pure Highland stock. His father was born at Braemar, while his mother belonged to the Loch Tay district and spoke Gaelic. Her ancestors were Roman catholics. Watson's parents, however, belonged to the Free Church of Scotland.
When Watson was about four the family removed to Perth. After attending the grammar school of that city, he was sent to the high school of Stirling, where his companions included Henry Drummond [q. v. Suppl. I]. In 1866 he entered Edinburgh University. His career there was somewhat disappointing, but he showed some promise in philosophy and became president of the University Philosophical Society. He graduated M.A. in 1870.
Reluctantly, at his father's wish, he studied for the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland at New College, Edinburgh (1870-4); his teachers included Andrew Bruce Davidson [q. v. Suppl. II] and Robert Rainy [q. v. Suppl. II]. His course was undistinguished; at its close he passed a semester at Tübingen University, studying under Beck and Weizsacker. In the autumn of 1874 he became assistant to the Rev. Dr. J. H. Wilson, Barclay church, Edinburgh. There he had misgivings as to his ministerial fitness, and thought of studying for the bar. Early in 1875 he was inducted minister of the Free church at Logiealmond, Perthshire ; his uncle, Hiram Watson, had been minister there from 1841 to 1853, leaving the Church of Scotland at the Disruption. In Logiealmond, the 'Drumtochty' of 'Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush,' Watson spent some three of his happiest years, making himself popular with the people and winning some repute as a preacher. In 1877 he became colleague and successor to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Miller of Free St. Matthew's church, Glasgow, a wealthy congregation and a centre of spiritual influence. His Glasgow ministry, which was less harmonious and successful than that at Logiealmond, lasted barely three years. The main work of Watson's life began in 1880, when he accepted an invitation to form a new presbyterian charge in the Sefton Park district of Liverpool. There he remained exactly twenty-five years, and established a congregation which for wealth, culture, and influence became one of the foremost in the Presbyterian Church of England. His attractive personality and public spirit drew to him all sorts and conditions of people. His preaching, while resting on a basis of broad evangelicalism, was essentially modern, catholic, oratorical, and cultured. Matthew Arnold [q. v. Suppl. I] on the day he died (15 April 1888) heard Watson preach at Sefton Park church, and remarked that he had rarely been so affected by any preacher (W. Robertson Nicoll's Life, p. 130). Watson's congregation raised, while he was minister, nearly 150,000l., and erected a church whose elegance and size has earned for it the title of 'the presbyterian cathedral of England,' as well as two large branch churches and a social institute. Watson's influence on the civic life of the community was considerable, no fewer than six members of his congregation becoming lord mayors of Liverpool, while others were prominent in the city council. He took a leading part in the creation of the University of Liverpool, and had a seat on its council (1903-6).
In 1894 Watson achieved a new and a wider reputation. In that year he published, under the pseudonym of 'Ian Maclaren,' a number of sketches of Scottish rural life entitled ’Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush.' The book at once made Watson one of the most popular authors in Great Britain and America. 'Ian Maclaren' knew little of the novelist's art, but out of simple elements he produced pictures of Scots character which, if not wholly free from sentimentalism, are artistic delineations of the Scottish peasant's nobility of sentiment and religious emotion. Watson was aware of 'the reverse side of the shield' which George Douglas Brown [q. v. Suppl. II] apotheosised in ' The House with the Green Shutters,' but his interpretation was admirably effective. In Great Britain more than a quarter of a million copies have been sold ; in America the sale has amounted to about half a million, exclusive of an incomplete pirated edition which was circulated in large numbers at a low price. The work has also been translated into several European tongues, and has been popular in Germany. In 1895 there followed in the same vein 'The Days of Auld Langsyne,' hardly inferior in execution and popularity. There was some falling off in workmanship in 'Kate Carnegie and those Ministers' (1897), in spite of its geniality and easy command of the Scots vernacular. 'Afterwards, and Other Stories' (1898) shows the author's command of pathos ; 'Young Barbarians' (1901) is a delightful boy's book; 'His Majesty Baby and some Common People ' appeared in 1902 ; 'St. Jude's' (posthumously, 1907) contained sketches of Glasgow life. 'Graham of Claverhouse' (posthumously, 1908) was 'Ian Maclaren's' only serious attempt at novel writing, and proved a failure.
From 12 Oct. to 16 Dec. 1896 Watson, taking advantage of the popularity of his books, made his first American lecture tour under the management of Major J. B. Pond, and was welcomed with immense enthusiasm (Pond, Eccentricities of Genius, p. 405). At Yale University he was made hon. D.D. after delivering there the Lyman Beecher lectures on preaching, which he published in the same year under the title of 'The Cure of Souls.' Watson repeated his success in a second American lecture tour, also under Pond's direction (19 Feb.-10 May 1899).
Meanwhile Watson had engaged, under his own name, in theological literature. In 1896 he issued 'The Mind of the Master,' an able interpretation of the person and teaching of Christ, which brought him in 1897 under a passing suspicion of heresy (W. Robertson Nicoll's Life, p. 214).
The most notable of his theological works was ’The Doctrines of Grace' (1900). 'The Life of the Master' (1901) illustrated Watson's breadth of view.
Watson worked strenuously to arouse interest in the theological college of his denomination. As convener of the synod's college committee he took a leading part in the removal of the college from London to Cambridge. Mainly owing to his energy and eloquence a sum of 16,000l. was raised in five weeks, which enabled Westminster College, Cambridge, to be opened free of debt in October 1899. Watson in 1897 declined a call to St. John's presbyterian church, Kensington, and in April 1900 was elected moderator of synod. On the outbreak of the Boer war (Oct. 1899) he supported the British government, and alienated many nonconformists by preaching sermons justifying the war. He also encouraged the young men of Liverpool to volimteer for active service in South Africa. In 1901 ill-health led him to pass the winter in Egypt. On his return he delivered a short course of lectures at the Royal Institution, London, entitled 'The Scot of the Eighteenth Century: his Religion and his Life.' The lectures were repeated at Cambridge, and were published posthumously in 1907.
In February 1905 Watson celebrated the conclusion of twenty-five years' ministry at Sefton Park, and in October he resigned owing to ill-health and pressure of other work. A sum of 2600l. was then privately presented to him. He continued to reside in Liverpool. In January 1907 he accepted, on what proved to be the eve of his death, the presidency of the National Free Church Council, and was nominated for the principalship of Westminster College, Cambridge, in succession to Dr. Oswald Dykes.
On 30 Jan. 1907 he sailed for New York to undertake a third lecturing tour in America. His popularity showed no sign of abatement, but he suffered from fatigue and from the cold. At Haverford College, Philadelphia, he delivered a course of lectures on 'The Religious Condition of Scotland in the Eighteenth Century.' In 'God's Message to the Human Soul: the Use of the Bible in the Light of the New Knowledge' (Cole Lectures of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, 1907) he maintained that the authority of the Bible was indestructible, while he welcomed reverent biblical criticism. Towards the end of March he passed to Canada. He lectured and preached at Valley City, North Dakota, on 21 April. Two days later he arrived at Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where he fell ill and died on 6 May 1907 in the Brazelton hotel. His remains were accorded a public funeral on 27 May in Smithdown cemetery, Liverpool.
Watson, whose sense of humour was keen and patriotism intense, earnestly sought as a preacher to combine the spirit of faith with that of culture. The twofold character of his work as secular and religious writer led to some depreciating criticism of both results of his labours. But theology and literature equally appealed to him.
Besides the works cited, Watson was also the author, in his own name, of: 1. 'The Order of Service for Young People,' 1895. 2. 'The Upper Room' ('Little Books on Religion' series), 1896. 3. 'The Potter's Wheel,' 1898. 4. 'Companions of the Sorrowful Way,' 1898. 5. 'Homely Virtues,' 1903. 6. 'The Inspiration of our Faith, and Other Sermons,' 1905. 7. 'Respectable Sins,' a volume of sermons for young men, edited by his son, Frederick W. Watson, and published posthumously in 1909.
Watson married on 6 June 1878 Jane Burnie, daughter of Francis John Ferguson, of Glasgow, and a near relative of Sir Samuel Ferguson [q. v.]. She survived him with four sons. A portrait, painted by Robert Morrison of Liverpool, hangs in the Guild Room of Sefton Park church, Liverpool.
['Ian Maclaren,' Life of Rev. John Watson, D.D., by W. Robertson Nicoll, 1908; Major J. B. Pond, Eccentricities of Genius, 1901, pp. 405-51; David Christie Murray, My Contemporaries in Fiction, 1897, pp. 110-11; George Adam Smith, Life of Henry Drummond, 7th edit. 1904; Liverpool Post and Mercury, 7 May 1907; Scotsman, 7 May 1907; British Weekly, 16 May 1907; Scottish Review (weekly), 9 May 1907; private information.]