on 24 June was an utter fiasco, and on 2 July a proclamation was issued for Copley's arrest. It was by his confession on 12 July that the others conspirators were implicated, and this, coupled with the fact that Copley was pardoned, suggests that he also was playing a double part (Edwards, Life of Raleigh, ii. 140, 142 sqq.) It was not till 16 July that a proclamation was issued for Watson's arrest, which apparently was not effected until about 5 Aug. He ‘was taken in a field by the Hay in Herefordshire (or Brecknockshire …) by Mr. … Vaughan. … 'Twas observed that Mr. Vaughan did never prosper afterwards’ (Aubrey, Brief Lives, ed. Clark, ii. 293). Watson's confession, dated 10 Aug., is printed in Tierney's ‘Dodd’ (vol. iv. App. pp. xix sqq.). Owing to the efforts made by the government to disentangle the obscure ramifications of the two plots, Watson was not brought to trial till 15 Nov. at Winchester Castle (‘Baga de Secretis’ in Dep. Keeper of Records, 5th Rep. App. ii. 135–9). He was condemned to death for high treason, and was executed at Winchester on 9 Dec. with William Clark. Among the manuscripts at Stonyhurst is a ‘Breve relazione della morte di due sacerdoti Gul. Watsoni et Gul. Clarkei, 9 Dec. 1603.’ In the proclamation for his arrest Watson is described as ‘a man of the lowest sort [ = very short] … his hair betwixt abram [ = auburn] and flaxen; he looketh asquint, and is very purblind, so as if he reade anything he puttethe the paper neere to his eyes; he did weare his beard at length of the same coloured haire as is his head. But information is given that nowe his beard is cut.’ Parsons says he ‘was so wrong shapen and of so bad and blinking aspect as he looketh nine ways at once.’
[The most important sources for Watson's life are the documents printed from the Petyt MSS. by Mr. T. G. Law in his Archpriest Controversy (Camd. Soc. 2 pts. 1897–8), and especially Watson's autobiographical letter to the attorney-general, endorsed April 1599; a doubt whether this is the correct date, Watson's own vagueness, and a difficulty in reconciling his dates with those afforded by occasional references in the state papers, combine to render the chronology of his life somewhat tentative. See also Law's Jesuits and Seculars, 1889; Douai Diaries; Cal. State Papers, Dom.; Parsons's Brief Apologie and Manifestation, both 1602?; Foley's Records S.J. vol. i. passim; Morris's Troubles, i. 196, ii. 260, 277; Lansd. MS. 983, art. 15; Cotton. MS. Vesp. cxiv. f. 579; Hist. MSS. Comm. 3rd Rep. App. pp. 150, 152, 338, 13th Rep. App. iv. 129; Cal. State Papers, Venetian, 1592–1603, Nos. 1052, 1061, 1078, 1089; Notes and Queries, 4th ser. iv. 314, 422; and Watson's Works in Brit. Mus. Library. For his conspiracy, see Confessions and Examinations among the Domestic State Papers in the Record Office, the most important of which are printed in Tierney's Dodd, vol. iv. App. pp. i–lii; others are at Hatfield (cf. extract in Addit. MS. 6177, f. 265); further details are given in the despatches of Beaumont, the French ambassador, in the Brit. Mus. King's MS. 123, ff. 309 sqq., 329–43, and MS. 124; see also Weldon's Court of James I, pp. 340 sqq.; Birch's Court and Times of James I; Lodge's Illustrations, iii. 75–6; Edwards's Life of Raleigh, vol. ii. passim; Sharpe's London and the Kingdom, ii. 6–7; Gardiner's Hist. of England, i. 108–40; Hume's Life of Raleigh, 1897, pp. 254, 259, 263, 274; cp. also arts. Brooke, George; Brooke, Henry, eighth Lord Cobham; Clark, William, d. 1603; Copley, Anthony; Grey, Thomas, fifteenth Baron Grey of Wilton; Markham, Sir Griffin; and Ralegh, Sir Walter.]
WATSON, Sir WILLIAM (1715–1787), physician, naturalist, and electrician, born on 3 April 1715 in St. John's Street, near Smithfield, London, was the son of a tradesman. He was entered at the Merchant Taylors' school in 1726, and in 1730 was apprenticed to an apothecary named Richardson. From his youth he made many excursions into the country to search for plants, having a strong taste for botany, and he obtained the premium given annually by the Apothecaries' Company for proficiency in that subject. In 1738 Watson married and set up in business for himself. He became distinguished for his scientific knowledge, and on 9 April 1741 was elected F.R.S., though he does not seem to have published any researches previous to this date. Between this and his death, however, he contributed to the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ more than fifty-eight original papers and summaries of the work of others, bearing on natural history, electricity, and medicine, many of which are of considerable importance. Watson was a constant attendant at the regular meetings of the Royal Society and at the private associations of its members, which met on Thursdays, first at the Mitre in Fleet Street, and later at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand (Pulteney, op. cit. ii. 333). In 1745 he was awarded by Sir Hans Sloane [q. v.], as surviving executor of Sir Godfrey Copley [q. v.], the Copley medal for his electrical research. Later, Sloane, with whom he had become very intimate, nominated him trustee of the British Museum, and after its establishment in Montagu House in 1756 Watson showed great assiduity in the internal arrangements and in furnishing the garden with a large collection of plants
