Henry Tyler Watson

Henry Tyler Watson (1888- 1975)

Henry, or ‘Harry’ as he was known, like most of his relations, appears in few official documents. On the baptism certificate for the 22nd August 1895, his Christian name is given as, ‘Peter Henry Tyler’, and his father as ‘Henry Andrew’. The name on Phyllis’s birth certificate is corrected to ‘Andrew’. Both Phyllis and Harry were baptised together. Phyllis would have been around four years old, and Harry was seven.

The 1901 census for Wavertree, Liverpool, lists Harry with his sister and mother, visiting a friend, but his father is absent and may have been away working. In the 1911 Census, both parents and sister are recorded as living in the Mossley Hill district of Liverpool. Harry is now 23 years old and gives his occupation as ‘draughtsman’, a ‘structural engineer’ and a ‘worker’.

The WWI Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920, records that Henry Tyler Watson answered the call of his King and Country and volunteered for service with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Judging by his regimental number, he volunteered in the early months of the war and later, on 1st May 1915, Harry embarked as a private with the 1st Battalion, presumably after several months of training. By the end of the year, he had been promoted to the 2nd Battalion as a corporal.

Seeing action, he survived the war and was demobilised at the rank of Corporal and received the campaign medals. Sadly, it appears Harry’s service records were among those destroyed by fire in 1940 after a German bombing raid.

Few details about Harry can be found after the war, but like many who survived, he was probably close-lipped about his experiences and chose to lead a quiet life. If so, this may be why there is so little information about him.

It may be a coincidence, but the year Harry’s parents moved from Liverpool to Kew, was the year Rupert emigrated to Australia and the same year Harry was mobilised.

In 1949, on his mother’s probate documents, Harry provided his occupation as a ‘Civil Engineer’, and his home address is also in Kew, a little over a mile away.

Harry does not appear in the 1939 Register, and the lack of appearances in records such as the electoral roll, suggest he may have lived overseas. There are sightings on passenger lists, but as yet, these cannot be confirmed as Harry.

Records of his death state he died intestate in Hounslow in 1975, and no Last Will appears in the probate records for that year. His death was registered in Hounslow, in the West of London, some distance away from Richmond and Kew. Little else is known. It may be Harry started a family, but no records can be found to confirm this.

Harry was 87 years old when he died.

UPDATE

Resent research has discovered that Harry married in 1922, but the couple did not produce any offspring. More research is currently underway to discover more.