Watson was a native
Gaelic-speaker, born in Milntown of New Tarbat (now known as
Milton),
Easter Ross. He was the son of Hugh Watson, a
blacksmith. He received his initial education from his uncle, James Watson. William became well grounded in Gaelic studies and the
Classics. He went to study at the
University of Aberdeen and the
University of Oxford. Initially a school teacher in
Glasgow, he was appointed Rector of the
Royal Academy, Inverness in 1894 and he then obtained the prestigious post as Rector of the
Royal High School, Edinburgh, in 1909. It was while teaching in Inverness that he began to contribute to the
Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness and the
Celtic Review. In Edinburgh he lived at 17 Merchiston Avenue. In 1910 he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were
Walter Biggar Blaikie, Sir
William Leslie Mackenzie,
John Horne and
Ben Peach. He took the chair of Celtic at the
University of Edinburgh in 1914, despite holding no prior university position. He remained in this prestigious position until making way for his son
James Carmichael Watson in 1935 (but retaining a role in the university until 1938). William died on 9 March 1948, aged 83. == Family ==