The Watts family lived in Burnage, a village on the outskirts of Manchester. In the 18th century they worked as small farmers and handloom weavers ( a common dual occupation). By the middle of the 19th century their fortunes had been considerable improved when the firm of Samuel and James Watts became one of the largest firms of textile merchants in Manchester. Their magnificent warehouse on Portland Street is now the Britannia Hotel. My wife and I spent a weekend there a few years ago. Samuel Watts was my great great grandfather and lived at Burnage Hall. His brother James became Lord Mayor of Manchester and lived in some style at Abney Hall in Cheadle.

The story of the earlier generations of Watts is a very confused one. There is an old family tree that has been handed down, but when this is examined alongside the entry for the Watts Family in Burke's Landed Gentry (1900) and the parish records recorded in the IGI it becomes very difficult to work out who was who. Anyway, I have set out the conflicting evidence in the hope that someone will take on the task of sorting it all out one day.

Warning It isn't until we get to John Watt III that there is any certainty about the information.

Brief Summary