The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Watson, Rev. Henry Crocker Marriott
Watson, Rev. Henry Crocker Marriott, was born at Prossers, in Tasmania, on Nov. 9th, 1835, and is on the father's side of Irish descent, his grandfather being of Tipperary, the family estate, "Brook Watson," near Nenagh, having, only as recently as 1857, passed into other hands. Mr. Watson's father, Brereton Rolla Ross Porter Bloomfield Watson, emigrated in 1821, when very young, to Tasmania where he married Miss Catherine Wade. Mr. Watson was educated in Tasmania, and having decided to study for holy orders, became a teacher. Migrating in 1858 to Victoria, he was appointed to the office of reader in the parish of St. Peter's, Melbourne, and as the result of his studies gained an exhibition worth £100 a year to Moor College, Sydney. After completing his course there, he was ordained deacon by Bishop Perry in Melbourne in 1860, and was appointed to the curacy of Christ Church, Ballarat, which he held till 1862, in which year he took priest's orders. On March 7th, 1863, he married Annie Macdonald, eldest daughter of John Wright, of Hobart. The same year he was appointed incumbent of St. Mary's, Caulfield, near Melbourne. This preferment he held till 1864. Mr. Watson was incumbent of Tarradale and Malmesbury, in Victoria, from the latter year till 1867, subsequently of Inglewood and Tarnagulla, and of Christ Church, Kilmore, from 1870 to 1873. In the latter year he removed to New Zealand, where he became incumbent of St. John's, Christchurch, a position he still holds. In 1885-6, whilst on a visit to England, Mr. Watson acted as deputational secretary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and again in 1889-90. Mr. Watson has published "Adventures in New Guinea" (1875); "Erchomenon; or, Republic of Materialism" (Sampson Low, 1879); "The Decline and Fall of the British Empire; or, The Witches' Cavern" (Treschler, 1890).