Notable South Australians/Captain John Watts
Captain John Watts
WHO was for over twenty years Postmaster-General of South Australia, died at North Adelaide March 28, 1873, aged 87. He was a native of Ireland, and the son of a clergyman. At an early age, with several of his brothers, he entered the military service during the long war with Napoleon, and first served in the West Indies, where he was located for several years. He next accompanied Governor Macquarie to Sydney as his aide-de-camp, and occupied that position until the Governor left, when Capt. Watts returned to England, where he married, resigned his commission in the 73rd Regiment of the Line, and retired into private life. He arrived in South Australia on March 8, 1841, by the "John Cooper," and shortly after received the appointment of Postmaster-General, in succession to his brother who had previously held that post. He retained this position until July 10, 1861, when he relinquished it, and was succeeded by Mr. J. W. Lewis. On his retirement his subordinates presented him with a handsome testimonial. He had the misfortune to lose his wife, to whom he had been married for fifty years, only three weeks before his death.