Watson, Talbot Scott
This Talbot was born in Plymouth on the 1st April 1871 to James Watson and Di Watson (nee Richards); one of 5 siblings.
He married Alice Jardine who had been born on the 12th February 1876.
We see in his death notice from The Times 1957–01–21:
WATSON - On January 19th, 1957, at 15 Northumberland Road, Leamington Spa, in her 81st year, ALICE SCOTT WATSON, widow of Talbot Scott Watson, of Highgate, and mother of Alan Watson and Margaret Sloss.
From the Midland Daily Telegraph 1940–04–10:
Mr Talbot Scott Watson, of 60 Maidenhead Road, Stratford-Upon-Avon and formerly 114, Fore Street, E.C., died on February 2 last, age 68 years, leaving £24, 076 14s. 11d. with net personality £23, 972 1s 6d., all of which he leaves to his wife, Alice Wingrave Watson, to whom probate is granted. Estate duty has been paid amounting to £2, 377.
From the details for 114 Fore Street in the Post Office London Directory, 1910 (Vol. I. Part 2- Street Directory):
114 Watson Talbot Scott, wlln. agt. This we interpret as "woollen agent".
The "Scott" in Alice's name in his death notice in appears to be an error. Maragret Sloss appears in her own entry in this website.
Talbot Scott Watson was evidently named after his great uncle Thomas Talbot Watson.
The Scott component of his name goes back through the genealogical tree for many generations, but I do not know where the Talbot name came from. I consider that further under the section on his uncle.
Further information came to me through an circuituos route from an until then unknwon source called Bob. (I am thankful to the same source for the press extracts above). He had been researching an interesting memorial stone in St Pancras Cemetry. No obvious connections at all. Not even an inkling that his research would lead to a Watson. But he kept to this track. In the process he came across our Talbot with reference to someone else. Although it takes us in turn way off our family member for a while, the route is fascinating and worth the diversion before we too, get back on track. The following is as sent through this website as a query and subsequent emails.
In the St Pancras part of Islington and St Pancras Cemetery near where I live in north London, I recently came across a headstone reading˜In loving memory of Henrietta Saville, who passed away November 22nd 1911, aged 65 years¦ For many years governess to the children of Their Imperial Highnesses the Grand Duke and Duchess Vladimir of Russia by whom this stone is erected in affectionate remembrance", and I wondered if the deceased would make a good subject for a blog I run on interesting people buried in the cemetery.
Oddly, although the gravestone has 'Henrietta Saville', in the burial register she is 'Harriett', which is also the name in a probate record that seems to fit. In the latter, probate is said to have been granted to˜Julia Hunt spinster and Talbot Scott Watson woollen agent". The 1911 census records TSW as living quite close to the cemetery at the time.
I've found a mention of ˜mince pies with dear old Mrs. Saville" on a recently auctioned postcard from one of the Grand Duke's children whom Henrietta/Harriett taught, and it seems that she appears in the guise of the governess 'Miss Dryden' in a novel by Léon Bakst, who tutored the children in drawing and painting in the early 1890s. Otherwise she is proving elusive. She does not appear in the (April) 1911 census return for the address given in the burial register and the probate record; however, I have found a 'Harriet Saville' living as a boarder at another address then: she is described as an 'Ex Governess', born in London, aged 60 (which doesn't tally with the headstone or the burial register), married for 42 years, and with two living children. I wondered if TSW might have been a nephew and if her maiden name was Watson or Richards (the maiden name of TSW's mother, of course), but in ancestry.com I've not managed to find anyone who fits with either name. (I've also tried with Kedslie.)
Our Talbot had been born in Plymouth, but his parents and closest paternal relative had been born in a lived in Poland of a sizeable mainly Scottish expat community of this period. They had left due to the political turmoil of which Russia was key factor. Many Russian aristocracy had fled. The Grand Duke and Duchess Vladimir had lived in exile in France and Germany. It is possible that there is no obvious link between Henrietta Saville on that memorial stone and these Watsons. Also - what is the relationship of Julia Hunt with Talbot? If not by bloodline then by some other association? Quite how we still don't know. They may be cousins. If they appear together in the probate records there must be some connection.
Bob goes on to say : The Talbot Scott Watson whom the 1911 census records as living near the cemetery was a 40-year-old 'woollen manufacturer's agent' born in Plymouth, so I'm confident that 'your' TSW and the one in HS's probate record are the same person. I was particularly intrigued when I noticed that the 1881 census gives James Watson Watson's place of birth as 'Russia', though it's Poland in later censuses.
With Poland under the finger of Russia at this point, being registered as being born there may simply indicate the administration involved.
What's also intriguing is that the postcard I mentioned, from Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, says at one point 'My portrait alas! remained in Ply in my mother [Grand Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1854–1920)]´s bedroom.' 'Ply'? I've not managed to locate anywhere called 'Ply', though there is a dismal-sounding 'urban locality' called Plyussa in Russia; but I've found no mention of its having any link to Grand Duchess M. Could it be short for 'Plymouth'? I wondered. Alas, I can find no mention of the Grand Duchess having any link to Plymouth, before/after her exile from Russia, either.
Books that I have note how many place names were polonised from Scots and similarly for expats who integrated and stayed. I suspect that "Ply" refers to a Polish town of a similar name as Bob suggests.
As Bob has done a lot of research and will be posting this on his blog I will avoid posting more of his material. You should be able to read the outcome of all that about Henrietta Saville who lead to this tack on his website : https://studiedmonuments.wordpress.com/about/
