John Brown Watt (16 May 1826 – 28 September 1897) was a Scottish-born Australian businessman, banker, and politician. Watt was a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and a board member of the

Imperial Federation League The Imperial Federation League was a 19th-century organisation which aimed to promote the reorganisation of the British Empire into an Imperial Federation, similarly to the way the majority of British North America confederated into the Dominion ...

in London. Outside of state politics, he was a director of the

Union Bank of Australia The Union Bank of Australia was an Australian bank in operation from 1837 to 1951. It was established in London in October 1837 with a subscribed capital of £500,000. The foundation of the bank had followed a visit to England by Van Diemen's Land ...

(now the

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. It is Australia's second-largest bank by assets and fourth-largest bank by ma ...

) and the Colonial Sugar Refining Company. He was also a director of the

Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary Sydney Hospital is a major hospital in Australia, located on Macquarie Street in the Sydney central business district. It is the oldest hospital in Australia, dating back to 1788, and has been at its current location since 1811. It first rece ...

and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, as well as the founder of the Hospital for Sick Children, Glebe.

Early life

Watt was born in Edinburgh,

Mid-Lothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh ...

, Scotland, the eldest son of Royal Navy officer Alexander Hamilton Watt and his wife Margaret (née Gilchrist). His father was a relative of

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...

, inventor of the

steam-engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

and namesake of the watt energy metric. Watt graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1840 and emigrated to

via the ''Benares'' in 1842.

Early career

Watt was appointed a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council in September 1861, but resigned on leaving for England in March 1866. He was reappointed in October 1874. In 1877 he presented the sum of £1000 to the University of Sydney to found an exhibition for students from primary schools. He presided over the Royal Commission on Military Defences of 1881.

Later career

He was the Commissioner for New South Wales at the International Exhibitions of Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), Sydney (1879), Amsterdam (1883) and at Calcutta (1883–84). In 1884, he was invited to the United Kingdom to join the Executive Committee of the

. In 1890, he forfeited his Legislative Council seat due to absence in England.

Further details

Watt died in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, Dorset on 28 September 1897. He was survived by three of his five sons and five daughters, the youngest son was Oswald Watt, a celebrated aviator. Another son, Ernest Watt, became the father-in-law of

Sir Laurence Whistler Street Sir Laurence Whistler Street, (3 July 1926 – 21 June 2018) was the 14th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales. He was the youngest to serve in these viceregal offices since 1844 and ...

when he married Ernest's daughter Susan Gai Watt, herself the first female chair of the Eastern Sydney Health Service (now amalgamated with Illawarra).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watt, John Brown 1826 births 1897 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish emigrants to Australia