Lives in Cricket No 39 - Alec Watson

Beyond First-Class Cricket business seems to have given Alec Watson a good living. The Watsons now seem to have found a settled home in Stretford after some years of fairly frequent moving. Lillywhite’s Annual in 1874 and 1875 gives Watson’s address as 9 Hankinson Street, Manchester; in 1876 as 4 Derby Street, Rusholme; in 1877 and 1878 as 38 Rusholme Grove, Rusholme; and in 1879 and 1880 as 53 Monmouth Street, Rusholme. Until 1886 the Watsons then of course lived ‘on the job’ at Old Trafford. Lillywhite’s in 1887 and 1888 shows that Watson then moved to 19 Johnson Street, Stretford. Thereafter until 1894, when he had retired from first- class cricket, it gives his address as 35 Oxford Street, Manchester, the site of his first shop. It is not clear, but he may again have been living ‘above the shop’. However, it is evident from the above that a few years later Watson had set up a substantial home in Stretford. Oddly, between 1901 and 1911, the Watsons seem to have moved next door to 520 Stretford Road. From the outside it would appear that number 520 is slightly larger than 518. For the block is still standing, apparently now divided into offices or flats, and from 90 Watson’s final home at 518 (on right) and 520 Stretford Road.