3rd April 1723 saw the death of the Edinburgh accountant and philanthropist, George Watson.
Watson was born in Edinburgh on 12th November 1654 in Edinburgh, the eldest son of the Ewing Marion and John Watson, merchant.
After the death of his father and remarriage of his mother Watson and his brother James were raised by their aunt Elizabeth Davidson. In 1672 he went to Rotterdam, to be educated and stayed there for some years, reurning to Edinburgh in 1676, to become private Secretary to Merchant Sir James Dick. Partly based on this experience, he became one of the most famous accountants of his time, and was appointed chief accountant in Bank of Scotland when it was founded in 1695.
George Watson bequeathed the bulk of his fortune of £12,000 - a vast sum in 1723 — to found a hospital school for the provision of post-primary boarding education to the “children and grandchildren of decayed Merchants of Edinburgh, and of the Ministers of the Old Church thereof”. He further expressed a preference for those by the surname of Davidson or Watson.
George Watson was never a member of the Merchant Company of Edinburgh, but he was impressed by their running of the Merchant Maiden Hospital and so he chose the Company to implement the terms of his will. After some years, the Governors finally bought land known as Heriot’s Croft, located off Lauriston Place in Edinburgh, close to the Meadows and opposite George Heriot’s School. The foundation stone was laid on 22 May 1738, and the building was completed early in 1741, the school still thrives in Scotland’s capital to this day.
Pics are of the man himself and his grave in Greyfriars.
