Records of John Watt senior (1694 - 1736)

MS 3219/2

Records of John Watt senior (1694 - 1736)

1714 - 1744

The papers reflect John Watt’s business activities with shipping and cargoes, shown in the details of the ships Thetis, and Greenock particularly. There are accounts for John Watt’s teaching activities, and papers and accounts concerning his marriages and the inheritance of property. The notebooks and instruction books contain treatises on navigation, shipbuilding, mathematics, military matters etc. There is also an introduction to the Italian scheme of book-keeping with a new scheme for the application of this to merchant affairs by John Watt, dated 1730. There are also a number of drawings and surveys of land in Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire.

The records from both the ‘James Watt Papers’ and the ‘Muirhead Papers’ have now been brought together in this list. The bundles have been retained as found in 1999 and have generally been listed in chronological order.
The outgoing letters were perhaps placed with the other papers by James Watt of Greenock after John Watt’s death, or by one of the later members of the Watt family, and this arrangement has been kept.
John Watt’s records have been arranged as follows:
Part 1. Correspondence.
Part 2. Books of account.
Part 3. Account files and papers.
Part 4. Notebooks and instruction books.
Part 5. Drawings and surveys.
Each of the above parts is separately listed. Numbering is consecutive throughout. The correspondence and some surveys have all been item listed.

There is a photocopy of the published map of the Clyde as surveyed by John Watt, in Birmingham Archives & Heritage [MS 2082].

All the microfilms are available in Birmingham City Archives.

PHOTOCOPIES.

Moore, J.N. 'John Watt; an 18th century Scots surveyor.' Renfrewshire Local History Forum Journal. Vol.10 (1999).

The Watt and Muirhead papers were microfilmed by Adam Matthew Publications as part of Industrial Revolution: A Documentary History. ‘Muirhead I’ was published in file One: part 2 in 1993; ‘Muirhead II-IV’ in file One: parts 6 and 8, in 1997; and the ‘James Watt Papers ’ in file Three, in 1999.

PRINTED MATERIAL

Nisbet, Dr. Stuart. 'John Watt in Renfrewshire.' CAIRT (Newsletter of the Scottish Maps Forum), Issue 7 (June 2005).

No other original items have been found in Birmingham City Archives.

Two prints of the map of the survey of the River Clyde were sold at Sotheby’s in March 2003 in the ‘James Watt Sale’. Other prints of the map exist in the British Library and in John Smeaton’s drawings at the Royal Society, London. A later version of the map (1880) is in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

MICROFILMS.

Not Public Record(s)

6 Boxes

After his death, the papers of John Watt passed to his brother and executor, James Watt of Greenock, whose writing appears on the dockets of most of them. There are also, however, manuscript additions by James Watt, especially on the survey drawings, and by James Watt jr., who examined the papers in 1820.

John Watt sr. was the son of Thomas Watt, the older brother of James Watt of Greenock, and the uncle of James Watt. He appears to have followed his father?s profession of teacher and by 1715, he had become a teacher of mathematics and navigation. He also taught book-keeping. He moved to Glasgow in 1719. A considerable part of his work seems to have been as a land surveyor and numerous surveys and calculations have survived, especially for areas in and near Glasgow. His best known survey was one of the Firth of Clyde, made about 1734, and published, with additions and alterations, by his brother and nephews in 1759 - 1760. He also, like his brother, had interests in various shipping concerns. John Watt sr. married twice, but both wives died and no children survived. In 1728 he married Janet Todd. Their son John was born and died in May 1729, and Janet Todd died in 1731. Her father, John Todd (d. ?1717), was a merchant in Glasgow who seems to have dealt in tobacco and textiles. Her mother was Agnes Paedie, and she had two sisters, Mary and Jean. His second marriage was to Christian Tennent, in 1734. She was the daughter of Hugh Tennent, a merchant of Glasgow. John Watt?s daughter Margret was born in 1735, but both Christian and the child died soon after.