Watson Bros
Manufacturers of fire-resisting doors
Watson Brothers were Glasgow-based fire engineers, and 'armoured fire-resisting door and shutter manufacturers’. Harry (born c. 1874) and Herbert William (c. 1876–1938) Watson, both born in Manchester, were the sons of Jesse H. Watson (c. 1841–1907), who had been a commission agent and partner in various Lancashire firms of textile finishers, 'makers-up' and packers. 1 After bankruptcy in 1883, Jesse H. Walker moved from Salford to Helensburgh, and reinvented himself as a fire engineer in Glasgow. 2 It appears he already possessed some relevant knowledge through manufacturing brass fittings for steam and water in the 1860s. 3
Jesse's sons were probably influenced by their father's Glasgow business venture: in the 1891 census Harry is described as an apprentice engineer; in 1901 Herbert was a 'metal agent'. 4 The brothers opened a short-lived ‘engineering manufacturers and agents’ with Joseph Colquhoun, but they split up in 1902. 5 Calling themselves ‘Watson Brothers’, they continued trading from 32 Possil Road and 190 West George Street, Glasgow. 6 Around 1905, they moved to 22 Royal Exchange Square, and became ‘sole agents for the Hoffman automatic sprinkler’, which they sold for over 20 years. 7 Merchants and shippers W. S. Allan & Co. also had a long-standing, close involvement with the firm from c. 1908, until the late 1920s, and shared the same addresses. 8 By 1909, Watson's had taken over the Armour Works, Lloyd Street, Rutherglen. 9 The firm added ‘ball bearing specialists’ to their product advertising c. 1928, and were still working from the prestigious city-centre Merchants' House, George Square in 1939. 10
Notes:
1: Birth, death and Scottish and English census information, www.ancestry.co.uk and www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk [accessed 23 September 2012]; London Gazette, 7 April 1865, p. 1949; 27 November 1866, p. 6605; 28 October 1879 p. 6163; 14 November 1879, p. 6456; 16 January 1883, p. 305.
2: Bankruptcy reported in London Gazette, 16 January 1883, p. 305; 2 February 1883, p. 636; 6 February 1883, p. 705; 1881 and 1891 census details, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 23 September 2012]; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1890–1903.
3: London Gazette, 7 April 1865, p. 1949.
4: Scottish censuses 1891 and 1901, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 23 September 2012].
5: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1902–3, p. 638; Edinburgh Gazette, 28 November 1902, p. 1279.
6: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1903–4, p. 647.
7: Glasgow Post Office directories, 1897–1928.
8: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1908–9, pp. 66, 695; Glasgow Post Office directories, 1897–1928.
9: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1909–10, p. 692.
10: Glasgow Post Office Directory, 1928–9, p. 719; British Phone Books, 1880–1984, online database, www.ancestry.co.uk [accessed 23 September 2012].
