{{Short description|Royal Navy Rear Admiral (1884 – 1960)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Rear-Admiral |name = Fischer Watson |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE|DSO*}} |image= |image_size= |alt= |caption= |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|1884|09|03|df=yes}} |birth_place= Langport, England |death_date= {{death date and age|1960|08|14|1884|09|03|df=yes}} |death_place= Chichester, England |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= Royal Navy |service_years= 1899–1935<br/>1939–1945 |rank= Rear-Admiral |unit= |commands= New Zealand Division<br/>{{HMS|Nelson|28|6}}<br/>{{HMS|Caledon|D53|6}}<br/>{{HMS|Velox|D34|6}}<br/>{{HMS|Shakespeare|1917|6}}<br/>{{HMS|Tempest||6}}<br/>{{HMS|Loyal|1913|6}} |battles= First World War<br/>Second World War |awards= Commander of the Order of the British Empire<br/>Distinguished Service Order & Bar<br/>Mention in Despatches (3) |relations= |other_work= }} Rear-Admiral '''Fischer Burges Watson''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|size=100%|CBE|DSO1}} (3 September 1884 – 14 August 1960) was a Royal Navy officer who served as commander-in-chief of the New Zealand Division.
==Naval career== Born the eldest son of Rear-Admiral Burges Watson and Marie Thérèse Fischer and educated at Ashdown House and the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Watson joined the Royal Navy as a cadet in 1899.<ref name=unit>[http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersW2.html Unit Histories]</ref> In early June 1902 it was announced that he would be posted to {{HMS|Magnificent|1894|6}}, serving in the Channel Squadron,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=10 June 1902 |page=12 |issue=36790}}</ref> but the appointment was cancelled and later the same month he was posted as Midshipman on board the protected cruiser {{HMS|Ariadne|1898|6}}, about to become flagship on the North America and West Indies Station.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=20 June 1902 |page=10 |issue=36799}}</ref>
Watson served in the First World War as commanding officer of the destroyer {{HMS|Loyal|1913|6}} from the start of the war, of {{HMS|Tempest||6}} from April 1917 and of {{HMS|Shakespeare|1917|6}} from September 1918.<ref name=unit/> After the war he briefly commanded {{HMS|Velox|D34|6}} before being appointed assistant to chief of staff and maintenance captain at Portsmouth in 1920.<ref name=unit/> He became commanding officer of the cruiser {{HMS|Caledon|D53|6}} in 1924, chief staff officer to the rear admiral-in-charge Gibraltar in 1926 and naval assistant to the second sea lord in 1928.<ref name=unit/> He went on to be commanding officer of the battleship {{HMS|Nelson|28|6}} in 1930 and commander-in-chief of the New Zealand Division in 1932.<ref name=unit/> He retired in 1935 but was recalled in 1939<ref>[http://www.newspaperarchive.com/SiteMap/FreePdfPreview.aspx?img=10404867 Admiral Back on Duty] Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, 21 November 192</ref> at the start of the Second World War during which he served on the staff of the commander-in-chief Western Approaches before becoming commodore of ocean convoys in October 1940, senior officer for landing ship tank flotilla in the Mediterranean Fleet in April 1943 and senior naval officer at Selsey in May 1944.<ref name=unit/> He last appointment was as flag officer-in-charge at Harwich in September 1944 before retiring again in 1945.<ref name=unit/>
In 1935, Watson was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.<ref name="EP">{{cite news | url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19350506.2.12 | title=Official jubilee medals | date=6 May 1935 | work= Evening Post | accessdate=2 July 2013 | page=4 }}</ref>
==Rugby union== Watson was capped twice for England in rugby union, playing matches in the 1908 and 1909 Home Nations, as a forward.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fischer Burges-Watson |url=http://en.espn.co.uk/england/rugby/player/1961.html |website=ESPNscrum}}</ref>
==Family== In 1909 he married Sybil Mona Caroline Holden; they had three daughters.<ref name=unit/> Following the death of his first wife he married Mabel Harford Underwood in 1931.<ref name=unit/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{succession box|title=Commander-in-Chief, New Zealand Division|before=Geoffrey Blake|after=Edmund Drummond|years=1932–1935}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Fischer}} Category:1884 births Category:1960 deaths Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:People educated at Ashdown House Category:Royal Navy admirals of World War II Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War I Category:Military personnel from Somerset Category:Rugby union forwards Category:Rugby union players from Somerset Category:English rugby union players Category:England international rugby union players Category:19th-century Royal Navy personnel Category:20th-century English sportsmen