Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

10 Early Life likely that the 1846 date in Scores and Biographies is a misprint or error (Haygarth did make a few), and that Haygarth took Watson at his word in ‘Chats on the Cricket Field’ in The Cricket Field of 10 September, 1892. During the interview at Hove for that article, Watson was approached by a gentleman who remarked on his pleasure at hearing Watson’s Lancashire accent. Alec then remarked that he ‘happened to have been born in Glasgow.’ Since Coatbridge is less than ten miles from Glasgow, Watson probably referred to the latter as his birthplace on the grounds that its location would be more familiar to the hearer than that of Coatbridge. Rather oddly, the transcript of the 1881 census his birthplace was given as ‘The Netherlands’. If one assumes that this is not some kind of joke on Watson’s part, it would seem that some enumerator had misread or misheard ‘The Monklands’ – the present towns of Coatbridge and Airdrie – as ‘The Netherlands’! Also, in an interview in the Athletic Journal for August 9, 1887, Watson apparently said that he was 22 when he first came to Manchester in 1868. Cricket of 30 April, 1885, also gives his date of birth as 1846, but emphasises that this unusually prominent representative of Scottish cricket was born in Coatbridge. Again, in the 1881 census return Watson’s age is given as 34, but in the 1901 census it is given as 56. Wisden’s obituary and that in The Manchester Guardian give his birth year as 1844. Also, when Alec played for ‘Scotland’ against ‘All-England’ in 1863, he would only have been sixteen years of age, had he been born in 1846. Eighteen seems rather more likely. Perhaps there was some reason, professional or personal, why Watson in the 1870s and 1880s wished to present himself as two years younger than he really was. So, while there is conflicting evidence as to the date of Alec Watson’s birth, the balance of the evidence comes down to his being born on 4 November, 1844. However, evidence as to his place of birth presents even more difficulties. The census returns for 1851 for OldMonkland (Coatbridge) present problems, for there are two possible Alexander Watsons in them. Initial investigations seemed to point to the future cricketer being the son of Alexander and Mary Watson of Mud Row; Alexander senior being a ‘Coal Pit grieve’ (foreman). That would tie in with Alexander junior later being employed in the mines. However, his age is given as 10, when it should have been 4, if he was born in 1846, or 6, if born in 1844. I was prepared to argue the point that the enumerator had written or copied a 6 in such a way that it looked like a badly-written 10. Eventually, however, after