Geoffrey Watson (1894-1979)

Geoffrey Edward Herman Watson was born in 1894, the third of four sons of Erskine Gerald Watson, a London solicitor. As a young man, Geoffrey was fascinated by aeroplanes. He and his brother Alec were among the 40 passengers (a world record at the time) who were carried in a Handley Page four-engine super giant biplane over London on 15 November 1918. Although only in his twenties, Geoffrey made a name for himself in the later years of the First World War as an aviation illustrator. His work appeared in "The Graphic" and in the "Illustrated London News". He also illustrated a number of aviation books that were published after the War. Geoffrey's painting of an S.E.5a (below) is from the collection of the Royal Aero Club. Geoffrey was a frequent exhibitor of still-life paintings at the Royal Academy during the 1930's and 1940's. During the second world war he worked in camouflage in Leamington Spa and in the early 1950s moved