Beyond Temptation

Watts was born in Rochester, Kent, the son of a Deputy Surgeon-General in the Indian Medical Service, Indian Army. He was educated at Dulwich College and the Slade School of Fine Art, spending several summers in the art colony of St Ives. A precocious artist, he was awarded a silver medal for merit in 1901 at the Crystal Palace Poster Academy. He then went on to further his studies in Antwerp, Paris, Moscow and Madrid. By 1904 he was producing illustrations for Tatler, Bystander, Pearsons’s Magazine and London Opinion and by 1911 he was married, living in Regents Park Road and had a successful career as a magazine illustrator. His first drawing for Punch was in 1912, and he work would appear regularly in the magazine until his death. During World War I he served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, attaining the rank of Commander and receiving a DSO for his bravery in the Zeebrugge Raid of 1918. He was tragically killed in an air crash in 1935.