James Watson was born in Scotland in 1766.
Little is known of his early life but it is believed that he had medical
training in Edinburgh. As a young man
Watson moved to London where he worked
as a apothecary. At this time Watson developed radical political views
and became a follower of Thomas Spence.
After the death of Spence in 1814 James Watson and Arthur
Thistlewood helped form the Society
of Spencean Philanthropists. The government became very concerned
about this group that they employed a spy, John
Castle, to join the Spenceans and report on their activities.
In October 1816 Castle reported to John Stafford,
supervisor of Home Office spies, that Watson and a small group of
Spenceans were planning to overthrow the British government.
On 2nd December 1816 the Spencean group organised a mass meeting at
Spa Fields, Islington. The speakers at the meeting included Henry
'Orator' Hunt and James Watson. The magistrates decided to disperse
the meeting and while Stafford and eighty police officers were doing
this, one of the men, Joseph Rhodes was stabbed. The four leaders
of the Spenceans, James Watson, Arthur
Thistlewood, Thomas Preston and John Hopper were arrested and
charged with high treason.
James Watson was the first to be tried. However, the main prosecution
witness was the government spy, John Castle. The defence council was
able to show that John Castle had a criminal
record and that his testimony was unreliable. The jury concluded that
Castle was an agent provocateur (a person employed to incite
suspected people to some open action that will make them liable to
punishment) and refused to convict Watson. As the case against Watson
had failed, it was decided to release the other three men who were
due to be tried for the same offence.
The Spenceans continued to meet in 1817.
Arthur Thistlewood was still convinced
a successful violent revolution was still possible. James Watson now
doubted the wisdom of this strategy and although he still attended
meetings, he gradually lost control of the group to the more militant
ideas of Thistlewood.
In 1818 James Watson proposed a plan to develop a parliament for non-represented
people. He wrote pamphlets about his ideas and they were distributed
throughout the industrial areas of Britain. Watson urged the formation
of Unions of Non-Represented People and by November 1818, he was claiming
that forty-four of these groups had been established. Watson hoped
that members would pay a penny-per-week subscription to pay for the
distribution of leaflets. This failed to materialise and in December
1818 Watson was imprisoned for debt.
James Watson was released in 1819 and after the Peterloo
Massacre there was a renewed interest in Watson's political ideas.
However, he was unable to finance the organisation and he was once
again imprisoned for debt. He was still in prison when Arthur
Thistlewood and other members of the Spenceans
were arrested and executed for their part in the Cato
Street Conspiracy. After his release from prison Watson emigrated
to the United States where he lived until his death as a pauper in
New York City on 12th February 1838.
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