The President's family have been connected with the Wesleyans from the time that John Wesley himself, in his evangelistic tours, was accustomed to visit Weardale. In his childhood he regularly attended all kinds of religious services, and had special pleasure in the missionary meetings. These were always great gatherings in the dale, and the meetings often enthusiastic. At home, he heard earnest discussions on Methodist doctrine, by no means a rare thing in those localities. Ministers and laymen, all well-versed in systematic theology, would discuss Arminianism and Calvinism, and other points in theology, almost every time they met, to their own advantage as dialecticians, and the wonder and delight of the young people who were desirous of self-improvement. Principal Watson gained much in this way, not only of a knowledge of theology, but of a desire for reading, a bias towards religion, and probably also towards the ministry as a vocation.

From his father he has inherited the keen interest in evangelistic work that has always distinguished him, and also probably the courage, and contempt of consequences in the pursuit of a righteous cause, that have been among his most conspicuous virtues. His grandfather on the maternal side had no small share in forming his character in those days, and in cherishing the habits of study without which he could never have risen to the eminent Connexional position he now occupies. The grandfather was a man of considerable intellectual power and some culture, from whom several Wesleyan ministers of repute received their first lessons in theology. But to none does Mr. Watson owe so much as to his mother. Not only deeply pious, but a woman with ideas and great force of character, she was able to lift herself clear above the prejudices of the times. In those days, to read fiction, of any sort whatever, in those northern dales was considered a practice of questionable morality, and few who might have relish for such reading had the courage to indulge in it. Mrs. Watson read her Bible, but she found time also to read history, poetry, and high-class novels. It is not difficult to discover the results of these influences in Mr. Watson to-day. In a marvellous degree he combines all that is best in Puritanism, the religious fervour, the conscientious strictness of moral conviction, and the settledness of doctrinal belief, which distinguished the men of the Puritan movement and the pioneers of Methodism, with the openness of mind and heart that is so necessary for the attainment of a full-orbed life.

All through life Mr. Watson has been a voracious reader. He began early. Not every one, who has ultimately acquired a large acquaintance with English literature, has read carefully through such a bulky work as "Rollin's Ancient History" before he was twelve. But Mr. Watson not only accomplished this feat, but, in addition, had read Pope's translation of the "Iliad," and Dryden's translation of the "Æneid," nearly the whole of Scott's novels, besides many other books. His interests were about equally divided between chapel-going and reading, and being of such habits, it may well be believed that the sermons to which he listened were not lost upon him.

Although trained in a religious home, Mr. Watson did not easily glide into a Christian profession. All his religious teaching had tended to impress him with a sense of sin and a need of conversion. For long he sought God as men sought Him in Bunyan's days, as they seek Him still in these secluded dales. But in time, after much distress, anxiety, and mental darkness, the light broke in upon him and he obtained the assurance of pardon. The memory of that time stands out as a landmark in his experience. For a considerable period he remained in a state of spiritual exaltation, and although in time his condition became more settled, this was by no means the last experience in which he realised the actual presence of God and the nearness of the spiritual world. If the history of Weardale were written, the records would contain many accounts of spiritual upheaval by which, not one village was affected, but the inhabitants throughout the dale. In these times the one subject of conversation everywhere was "the revival." Workmen in the mines, farmers on the land, tradesmen at their counters, the people in their homes, the loiterers in the open spaces, and even those who were spending their evenings in the public-houses, in all seriousness would discuss this subject. It became the one theme of conversation everywhere. Christian people possessed by the revival spirit would often continue all night in prayer; a great expectancy filled their minds and a great fear the minds of the unconverted. Often men have been known to leave the public-house in fear and trembling, go straight to the chapel where meetings were being held, driven by their sense of need. More than one such awakening occurred after Mr. Watson's conversion, and before he entered the ministry. In these times Christian men became equipped for greater usefulness and endowed with a new power for service. Only a few months after his conversion, Mr. Watson, in answer to prayer, became conscious of such a baptism, and more than once since he has been blessed in a like manner. These personal experiences, together with a careful study of the Word and of Wesley's writings on the subject, have made him a firm believer in the doctrine of entire sanctification. Like all the other articles of the faith, this, too, may be presented in a foolish, not to say impossible manner. But there is a reasonable way of presenting it also, otherwise it could never have been accepted by one so sober-minded and reasonable as Mr. Watson. Needless to add, the other doctrines of Methodism are firmly held by him. They commend themselves to his reason; but he has other grounds for believing them. Christ's Atonement for sin, Justification by Faith, Regeneration by the Holy Ghost, are doctrines that answer to his spiritual experience and are a part of his religious consciousness. Firm in his confidence of the truth of these things, he feels he can afford to keep a mind open for fresh light from whatever quarter it may come. He is too sure of his ground to fear criticism and inquiry, too courageous to becomes panic-stricken by the investigations of modern scholarship. His attitude is that of the true Christian who waits for further light, and is confident that, in the long-run, truth and religion cannot suffer.

Mr. Watson's conversion occurred when he was sixteen years of age, and he joined the Wearhead church, then and still powerful society. The superintendent of the station was the Rev. William Lister who, with his fine appreciation of Christian character and talent for usefulness, perceived in Mr. Watson a young man of promise, and very early had his name placed on the plan. From the first his preaching made a powerful impression, and during the six or seven years in which he continued a local preacher he received several calls to enter the full ministry. Domestic circumstances prevented him from accepting any of these calls for some time. But meanwhile he was growing in all respects. Association with the Races, senior and junior, George Featherstone, Joseph Featherstone and other typical dalesmen, was deepening his piety, introducing him to new books, and giving him an apprehension of the philosophical aspects of theology. The difficulties having been cleared away, he entered the ministry at twenty-nine years of age, and as a circumstance connected with this part of his career that is absolutely unique, it may be mentioned that he travelled the whole of his probation on his native circuit. His usual good fortune followed him in his new sphere. From his infancy the most powerful influences that had touched him had been helpful and stimulating to an unusual degree. When he entered the ministry he became associated with the Rev. Thomas Greenfield, then a preacher with a special gift for exposition, and later tutor at the Sunderland Theological Institute; the Rev. Henry Phillips, one of the most gentlemanly of men, one of the most effective of preachers; and the Rev. Colin Campbell McKechnie, who in his day was not less distinguished as a preacher than as a man of letters, for forty years the editor of the Review, and for nine the editor of the Magazines. Among the younger men who influenced him were Rev. John Atkinson, Rev. William Graham and Rev. Hugh Gilmore.

Few men are better acquainted with Methodist theology than Mr. Watson. But he has also a considerable knowledge of many other kinds of literature. Conversing with him on metaphysics and philosophy, his friends quickly discover that he is able to go far with them in the discussion of these intricate problems, and that he has as good a command of philosophical terminology as of the words used in conversation on every-day subjects. In addition he has been always more or less a student of languages, and although, having lived a busy life, he has not been able to refresh his mind sufficiently to make them all of use to him, there are several with which he is familiar. German is perhaps his favourite, and he is at home with Dutch and Greek.

For seventeen years he laboured on the home Stations as a minister in the North of England. His work was exceedingly successful in all respects, most successful in the best sense, bringing men to God. In 1879 he went to Aliwal North, South Africa, to carry on the work on that most successful foreign mission station. From thence after four years he removed to North Adelaide, South Australia, where he had a term of six years before returning home, preceding the Rev. Hugh Gilmore and the Rev. John Day Thompson, at the Wellington Square Church. These ten years Mr. Watson regards as among the happiest and most fruitful of his life. They certainly produced a marked effect upon himself. When he returned he had a difficulty in realising wherein lay the importance, which many attached to them, of apparent trifles. His travels had delivered him from the bondage of insular, not to say provincial, ideas, with which stay-at-home people are all more or less afflicted. No doubt he would give a different account of this, but observers at Conference gatherings were impressed by it.

Mr. Watson has served the Connexion with ability and loyalty, and the Church on her part has not forgotten to honour her distinguished son. He would have been happy to remain always a circuit minister, had it been so ordered. In truth, he has splendid pulpit gifts. A fine presence, a sweet, musical voice, a persuasive style, graceful and easy in gesture, clear and simple in reasoning, he is the preacher to please and edify any congregation. But Providence has appointed him to other and not less important work. Since his return from Australia he has been Conference Secretary. Two years ago he was removed from Chester First Circuit, and appointed to the Principalship of Manchester College. About the same time he succeeded Mr. McKechnie to the Editorship of the Review. The Conference of 1895 made him President. His natural modesty may lead him to think that the Connexion, in honouring him, has lately been too lavish; but those who know him best recognise that he deserves these evidences of the esteem in which he is held. No man certainly is better fitted for the Principalship of the College. Scholarly, dignified, and enjoying to the full the confidence of the Connexion, with a splendid record behind him, he should be, as we believe he is, an inspiration to the young men under his care. In Mrs. Watson he has a helpmate in all his work, whose management of the household affairs of that important institution is admirable. And with the absolute confidence and goodwill existing between Mr. Watson and Professor Peake, the gifted theological tutor, the young men now entering our ministry should be unusually well-equipped for their work.

Source: The Primitive Methodist Magazine, Vol. III / LXXVII, 1896