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MacMahon/B/7
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4p paper
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Biographical history
Watson was commissioned lietenant of the Royal Engineers in 1866, having studied at Trinity College, Dublin, and trained at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He served under General Gordon in the Sudan, 1874-1875, where he was involved in surveying work. Deputy-Inspector-General of Fortifications, 1896-1902. Became a member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1875. After his retirement from the military, Watson acted as British Government Delegate to International Navigation Congresses, 1902-1908. Became Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1905.
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Manuscript documents relating to the Sator Square, a special type of acrostic, containing the Latin palindromic sentence 'SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS'. Watson notes that there is a copy of the charm on a panel in Great Gidding Church, Huntingdonshire [now Cambridgeshire], dated 1614. The structure of the Sator Square is referenced in connection to 'magic squares', in which each row and each column contains the same sequence of numbers adding up to the integer 26. The Sator Square was sometimes superimposed onto a Seal of Solomon.