in the United Kingdom, but on the continent. As early as 1781 the Russian ambassador wrote on behalf of the empress a most flattering letter, begging Watt to go to Russia, and to be the supreme director of mines, metallurgy, and ordnance castings in that country. Watt refused this offer in a letter admirable for its clearness and its courtesy. He corresponded very frequently with scientific men in France, and was extremely well received there by them when he went with Boulton to Paris in 1786. Lavoisier and Berthollet were among his most intimate acquaintances. In 1808 he was made a corresponding member of the Institute of France, and in 1814 one of the eight foreign associés of the Académie des Sciences. He declined shortly before his death an offer of a baronetcy made through Sir Joseph Banks.
On 18 June 1824 (rather less than five years after Watt's death) a public meeting was held in London to make provision for a monument to Watt's memory; this meeting was attended by (Sir) Humphry Davy, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Brougham, and many others. In the result, a monument by Chantrey was erected in Westminster Abbey, with an epitaph by Brougham; while in France, Arago in 1839 pronounced a well-known and appreciative éloge before the Académie des Sciences.
A bust of Watt by Chantrey, a medallion and a chalk drawing by Henning, and a sepia by George Dawe are in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh. Two portraits, one painted by Charles F. de Breda in 1793, and the other by Henry Howard, R.A., are in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Sir William Beechey in 1801 and Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1813 painted half-lengths, and Sir Henry Raeburn a head in 1815. A large statue was erected in Birmingham in 1868, and there are full-length statues by Chantrey not only in Westminster Abbey but at Glasgow (both in George Square and at the college), in Greenock Library, and in Handsworth church, where the engineer was buried.
The son, James Watt (1769–1848), born on 5 Feb. 1769, early turned his attention to science. In 1789 he went to Paris to pursue his studies, and took part in the revolutionary movement. At first he was in high favour with the leaders, but on showing a distaste for their later excesses, he was denounced before the Jacobin Club by Robespierre and was compelled to flee into Italy. Returning to England in 1794, he became a partner in the Soho firm, and afterwards gave some assistance to Fulton. In 1817 he bought the Caledonia of 102 tons, fitted her with new engines, and went in her to Holland and up the Rhine to Coblenz. She was the first steamship to leave an English port. On his return he made material improvements in marine engines. He died, unmarried, the last of Watt's descendants, at Aston Hall, Warwickshire, on 2 June 1848 (Gent. Mag. 1848, ii. 207; Ward, Men of the Reign).
[Williamson's Memorial of the Life and Lineage, &c., of James Watt, 1856; Smiles's Lives of Boulton and Watt, 1865; Muirhead's Origin and Progress of the Mechanical Inventions of James Watt, 1854; Muirhead's Life of Watt, 1858; E. A. Cowper in the Transactions of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1883, on the ‘Inventions of James Watt and his Models preserved at Handsworth and at South Kensington;’ ‘Watt’ in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 6th ed. 1823, by James Watt, junr.; Muirhead's Correspondence of the late James Watt on his Discovery of the Theory of the Composition of Water, 1846; Robison's Mechanical Philosophy: letters and notes by James Watt on the History of the Steam Engine; Farey on the Steam Engine, 1827; Law Reports: points reserved in Boulton and Watt v. Bull, and in Boulton and Watt v. Hornblower and Maberley; Specification of Wasbrough's patent, 1779; Specification of Pickard's patent, 1780; Edinburgh Review, vol. lxxxvii., Jeffrey on Watt and the Composition of Water; Phil. Trans. 1783 and 1784, vol. lxxiv.; Lardner on the Steam Engine, 1828 and 1851; Arago's Éloge, translated by Muirhead, 1839; North British Review, 1847, vol. vi.; Brewster on Watt's Discovery of the Composition of Water; Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Walker's (President) Address, 1843; Brougham's Lives of Eminent Men of Letters and Science, 1845; Edinburgh Review, xiii. 320; Rees's Cyclopædia, about 1814, ‘Steam Engine,’ by Farey on Watt's information; Stuart's Descriptive History of the Steam Engine, 1831.]
WATT, JAMES HENRY (1799–1867), line engraver, was born in London in 1799 and, at the age of eighteen, became a pupil of Charles Heath (1785–1848) [q. v.] He engraved many beautiful vignettes for the ‘Amulet,’ ‘Literary Souvenir,’ and similar productions from designs by Robert Smirke, Richard Westall, and others; also several plates for the official publication ‘Ancient Marbles in the British Museum.’ Of his larger works, which are all executed in pure line on copper, with much taste and power, the most important are: ‘The Flitch of Bacon,’ after Stothard, 1832; ‘May Day in the Time of Queen Elizabeth,’ after Leslie, 1836; ‘Highland Drovers' Departure,’ and ‘Courtyard in the Olden Time,’ after E. Landseer; and ‘Christ Blessing
