James Watson (1817 – 5 July 1895) was an English merchant, dairy herdsman and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1885 to 1892. Watson was born at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

the son of James Watson, of

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

and his wife Mary Spreadborough. Watson was a cheesemonger in Birmingham. In 1875, he purchased

Berwick House Berwick House is a Georgian Country House on the banks of the River Severn north of Shrewsbury, in the United Kingdom. The house dates from the 1700s, and is listed at Grade II*. There was once a fine pair of fine wrought-iron gates by Robert D ...

near Shrewsbury and moved in four years later after extensive reconstruction. There he established one of the first herds of

Jersey cow The Jersey is a British list of cattle breeds, breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney (cattle), Alderney – now extinct – and th ...

s in England. He became a J.P. for the counties of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

. He served as treasurer of the Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury in 1886. At the 1885 general election Watson was elected as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

and held the seat until he stood down at the 1892 election. Watson died at the age of 78. Watson married Jane Willan in 1856 and they had a daughter Florence.

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* 1817 births 1895 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1810s-stub