Identity area
Reference code
Watson/5
Unique identifier
Title
Date(s)
- 1954 - 2013 (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
11 boxes; paper.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
George Grimes Watson was born in Brisbane, Australia, on 13 October 1927. He was educated at Brisbane Boys' College and the University of Queensland, where he graduated in 1948 with a degree in English. He secured a scholarship for a second degree and received an English degree from Trinity College, Oxford in 1950; he worked for the European Commission as an interpreter before becoming a lecturer in English at Cambridge in 1959 and a Fellow of St John's College in 1961. He remained at St John's until his death on 2 August 2013.
Watson edited 'The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'. As well as producing wide-ranging literary and cultural criticism, he was involved in leftist politics, campaigning as a Liberal candidate in 1959 and 1979 and working as Editor for the Unservile State Group; his political writing often critiques socialism from a liberal perspective.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
This series contains material pertaining to George Watson's writing, editorial and research projects. An approximately chronological sequence of material pertaining to his publications (mainly books), including notes, draft material and correspondence, is followed by a subseries of typescripts and offprints of those articles to which no additional material is appended; the series ends with a set of cuttings, photocopies and other research material not previously grouped by Watson, much of it having been interleaved in his personal library in the manner of the 'ex libris' correspondence. Note that references to Watson's books and articles in his overall correspondence are by no means confined to this series.