Life of James Watson the younger
He was born in Aberdeen around 1664 and educated at Aberdeen High School and Aberdeen University.
He moved with his family to Edinburgh in 1685. He appears to have largely filled his father's shoes following his death in 1687 but disappears from records, probably going to Holland to train further and gather more sophisticated presses and modern typefaces. Curiously, the Edinburgh Privy Council had issued an edict in 1687 preventing printers printing without a license (for each specific work), but specifically exempted James Watson from this requirement. This may have been a diktat imposed upon the council by the monarch, given Watson's connections.
Watson had inherited two printworks on the Royal Mile whom his father had lent large sums to Dutch men which had not been repaid. From 1694 he reappears using one of these properties: a small printworks on Mary King's Close. In 1695 he moved to a printworks on Warriston Close and then again to a printworks on Craigs Close: presumably the larger of the two premises which he already owned. The final premises is referred to in documents as The Kings Printing House.
Probably wishing to distance himself from his father's known Catholic sympathies he publicly renounced Catholicism, thus allowing himself more public freedoms. Officially he was Episcopalian rather than Presbyterian. In reality he was at best an agnostic but continued to have clear Catholic sympathies in much of his printing. It was noted that on Royal Proclamations (which should have been his duty to publish) he picked which ones suited his own viewpoints, such that these were often privately published for the Edinburgh area. Rivals (including Anderson's widow) frequently accused him of Papish and Jacobite sympathies. His early work though concentrated on medical and school textbooks and legal work. He had also tried printing the Bible but ended up in court due to the legal restrictions limiting who was allowed to publish these.[6]
His most memorable act was the publishing of a pamphlet criticising the government during the Darien expedition scandal in 1700. Whilst the co-accused, Hugh Paterson (a surgeon-apothecary also owning a printworks) was the printer of the more famous of the three problematic pamphlets created, Scotland's Grievances Relating to Darien, Watson wrote and printed a shorter version of this The People of Scotland's Groans and Lamentable Complaints made up of Extracts from Scotland's Grievances. Watson's pamphlet also included inflammatory remarks regarding the king not being the legitimate king, which would have further angered authorities. Both men were called to appear before court early in June 1700 and held at the Tolbooth but then released on bail. The court heard their petitions on 13 June 1700. Watson pleaded that his actions were caused by his "numerous family" and "poor circumstances" which had forced him to print for financial reward. The court, led by Sir James Stewart, did not accept this and set as date for later trial. The two men were officially imprisoned in the Tolbooth awaiting the judgement. Meanwhile, events at Darien led the public to riot and sympathises ran high with Watson and Paterson. On 20 June a crowd surrounded the Lord Advocates house and forced him to write a warrant for the men's release, which he did. This action was overtaken by other events. Four men broke into the Tolbooth and forced (using a dagger or bayonet) the guards to release Watson and Paterson (plus other prisoners on minor charges).[7]
Watson and Paterson were re-arrested on 25 June 1700. Watson employed John Spottiswoode as his counsel but gave no defence. The much-irritated judge found them guilty on the charge of seditious literature and sentenced each to banishment from the city (for a radius of ten miles) for a period of one year and a day. Infringement of this ban brought a fine of £10 per occurrence. The four men who released them from the Tolbooth were found guilty on various charges on 22 July 1700 and ironically found themselves behind bars in the Tolbooth.
Watson observed the ban and moved to the Gorbals in south Glasgow. Watson petitioned the court in March 1701 for an early return to protect the financial interests of his business. His exact return is not recorded but thereafter he appears to have focussed upon newspaper production rather than pamphlets. From 1701 to 1716 he is recorded in a series of legal disputes with Mrs Agnes Campbell, widow of his rival pamphleteer printer, Andrew Anderson, who was the only authorised printer of pamphlets and Bibles in Edinburgh, but Watson appears to have continually ignored this monopoly. However, his printing interests began drifting to newspapers, which were less rigidly controlled. He had earlier (1699) set up the initial publishing of the Edinburgh Gazette which ran only 41 issues before a dispute with its editor, but his experience led to his self-creation of the Edinburgh Courant published thrice weekly from 19 February 1705. He also began a series of other newspapers and journals.[8]
In 1704 Watson is recorded as meeting with Evander MacIver and George Ker, both papermakers, regarding general improvements to production quality. From 1706 he begins using more contemporary typefaces in an attempt to modernise the Scottish printing industry.
In 1706 he collected and published the hugely popular Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scottish Poems, of later influence on Ramsay, Fergusson, Scott and Burns. His growing success led him to open a bookshop (independent of his printworks) next to the Red Lion Tavern on the Royal Mile near St Giles Cathedral.
In 1711 his business acquired a new legitimacy, being granted a Royal Patent by Queen Anne allowing him to publish major controlled items such as Bibles. One result of this was his Crown Bible of 1715, published in 8 volumes after several years of work and described as “a matchless beauty”.[9]
He died on 22 September 1722 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard.[10] His estate following death was £32,000, the equivalent of a modern-day multi-millionaire.[11] This entire sum fell to his second wife.[12]
