Robert Boog Watson

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(26 September 1823 – 23 June 1910) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

malacologist and

minister Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...

of the

Free Church of Scotland Free Church of Scotland may refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), seceded in 1843 from the Church of Scotland. The majority merged in 1900 into the United Free Church of Scotland; historical * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), rema ...

best known as the author of the report on the Scaphopoda and

Gastropoda The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. ...

collected during the H.M.S. ''Challenger'' expedition to survey the world's oceans from 1873 to 1876. Watson also described various

Opisthobranchia Opisthobranchs () is now an informal name for a large and diverse group of specialized complex gastropods which used to be united in the subclass Opisthobranchia. That taxon is no longer considered to represent a monophyletic grouping. Euopisth ...

from

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

Life

The grave of Rev Robert Boog Watson, Dean Cemetery

He was born in

Burntisland Burntisland ( , sco, also Bruntisland) is a former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to the 2011 census, the town has a population of 6,269. It was previously known as Wester Kingho ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, the son of the Rev Dr Charles Watson DD (1794-1866) of

and Isabella Boog. His brother, Sir

Patrick Heron Watson Sir Patrick Heron Watson (5 January 1832 – 21 December 1907) was an eminent 19th-century Scottish surgeon and pioneer of anaesthetic development. He was associated with a number of surgical innovations including excision of the knee jo ...

was an eminent surgeon and a pioneer of modern dentistry. The family moved permanently to Edinburgh around 1840, living at 19 Royal Terrace on Calton Hill. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy. He served as Chaplain to the Highland Brigade during the Crimean War, and later in Madeira. In 1858 he was living with his wife in Bombay in India. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

in 1862. During his stay in Edinburgh he lived with his brother

at Hope Street off Charlotte Square. From 1864 to 1874 he served on the island of

. From 1877 onwards he is recorded as living at 19 Chalmers Street on the south side of Edinburgh. He died in Edinburgh and is buried in the south-west section of Grange Cemetery with his wife Janet. The grave lies in the eastern row facing west. It bears the inscription "Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain".

Family

In 1857 he was married to Janet Cowan (1831-1912) daughter of Alexander Cowan of Valleyfield. Their daughter, the writer Helen Brodie Cowan Watson, married Major General William Burney Bannerman

(1858–1924), the son of Rev James Bannerman. Their son was the engineer and antiquarian Charles Brodie Boog Watson

(1858-1947) and granddaughter was writer and broadcaster Elspeth Janet Boog Watson. He was related through the marriage of Jane Elisabeth Boog to the Very Rev Matthew Leishman of Govan Old Parish Church. He was also related through his aunt, Christian Boog, to

Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...

, making her a distant aunt.

Publications

*''Geology of Luneburg'' *''The Great Drift Beds with Shells in the South of Arran'' *''Disruption in the Church of Canton de Vaud, Switzerland'' * *

References

Sources

*
Robert Boog Watson B.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S, ''Mollusca of H.M.S. ‘Challenger’ Expedition.—Part VIII''; Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology, Volume 15, Issue 87, pages 388–412, October 1881
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Robert Boog Scottish zoologists 1823 births 1910 deaths People educated at Edinburgh Academy People from Burntisland 19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland British malacologists