Born | May 20, 1832 - Sedbergh, Yorkshire |
Died | January 3, 1892 - Conwy, Wales |
John Dawson Watson was a painter, watercolorist, and illustrator. As an illustrator of many books and English journals, he was well known for his drawings in the George Routledge and Sons 1860 edition of The Pilgrim’s Progress, William Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, and The Graphic weekly illustrated newspaper.
He had a love for the theatre, staging and acting in theatrical productions given for benefits and special occasions. For these productions Dawson Watson designed and cut the costumes himself.
Dawson Watson painted Shakespearian murals for the Castle Hotel in Conwy, Wales where he spent the last years of his life.
John Dawson Watson married his first cousin, Jane Dawson Edmondson on November 23, 1858 in Giggleswick, Yorkshire. They were the parents of Dawson Dawson-Watson.
Christmas Festivities. Birket Foster and Friends in Sixteenth Century Costume.
“The two fencing are J. D. Watson, in white, and Alfred Cooper, in black; behind the former is Edmond Evans, whilst Birket Foster and W. Lindsay Watson, leaning against the window-sill, are watching the bout.”
Cundall, H. M., Birket Foster, London, Adam and Charles Black, 1906.
John Dawson Watson
(Dawson Dawson-Watson family archives)
John Dawson Watson seated second from left and far left believed to be his brother.
(Knight family archives)
John Dawson Watson seated on the left and the other two men are believed to be his brothers.
(Knight family archives)
John Dawson Watson
(Knight family archives)