G. N. Watson
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He was born in Westward Ho! in Devon the son of George Wentworth Watson, a schoolmaster and genealogist, and his wife, Mary Justina Griffith.
He was educated at St Paul's School in London, as a pupil of F. S. Macaulay. He then studied Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge. There he encountered E. T. Whittaker, though their overlap was only two years.
From 1914 to 1918 he lectured in Mathematics at University College, London. He became Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Birmingham in 1918, replacing Prof R S Heath, and remained in this role until 1951.
He was awarded an honorary MSc Pure Science in 1919 by Birmingham University.
He was President of the London Mathematical Society 1933/35.
He died at Leamington Spa on 2 February 1965.
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Honours and awards
In 1919 Watson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1946, he received the Sylvester Medal from the Society. He was president of the London Mathematical Society from 1933 to 1935.
He is sometimes confused with the mathematician G. L. Watson, who worked on quadratic forms, and G. Watson, a statistician.
Family
In 1925 he married Elfrida Gwenfil Lane daughter of Thomas Wright Lane.