He and his younger brother, the poet Sir William Watson (1858-1935, appointed Poet Laureate on the death of Tennyson in 1892), came of 'good Methodist stock' at Burley-in-Wharfedale. His father, John Watson, was a master grocer. He became a WM local preacher and missioner at 25, being described as 'basically unstable, but highly gifted'. He 'frequently acted in an extravagant, unbalanced fashion', his widespread and influential ministry being marked by 'passionate fervour and an uncanny gift of spiritual prescience.'