Cecil Watson
Cecil Watson (1874-1917)
1918 Obituary [1]
CECIL WATSON was born at Tottenham on 31st December 1874, and received his early education at the local Grammar School.
He began his apprenticeship of four years in 1891 at the locomotive works of Messrs. Dubs and Co., Glasgow, and went through the shops and drawing office. During this period he also attended evening classes at the Glasgow Technical College, and on the completion of his term be went for two years as an improver in the engineering department of the rubber mills of Messrs. W. Warne and Co., which was followed by a few months' work in the running sheds of the Great Eastern Railway at Stratford.
In June 1899 he was appointed an inspector of railway material in the Sheffield District for Sir A. M. Rendel and Robertson, and four years later he was transferred to the London Office of the firm, becoming Head Inspector in 1905.
In September 1909 he was appointed manager and chief engineer to the ABC Coupler, Ltd., and visited India, Burma, Ceylon, Egypt, South America, and Nigeria, on behalf of the Company. Specializing in spring gear, baling, and coupling equipment for railway rolling stock, he brought out several patents, some of which have been adopted as standards on various railways.
He was elected Managing Director to the Company in March 1915.
His death took place in London on 29th December 1917, within two days of his forty-third birthday.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1911.