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Alexander Pollock Watt

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A.P. Watt
Portrait of Alexander Pollock Watt (1838–1914)
Born
Alexander Pollock Watt

28 October 1837
Bridgeton, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Died3 November 1914(1914-11-03) (aged 76)
St. John's Wood, Middlesex, England
Spouse
Roberta Strahan
​
​
(m. 1866; death 1908)​
Children6
FatherJames Watt (book seller)
RelativesAlexander Strahan (brother-in-law)
Signature
Signature of Alexander Pollock Watt (1838–1914)

Alexander Pollock Watt is generally regarded as the first true literary agent.

Watt was born in Glasgow in 1837. While employed by an Edinburgh bookseller, he married publisher Alexander Strahan's sister Roberta in 1866. In 1871 he moved to London to begin working as a reader for Strahan's publishing business. By 1876 he was a partner in the firm, and by 1878 he was an advertising agent selling space in Strahan's various periodicals. Around 1878 he started working with author George MacDonald, a professional relationship that eventually led to Watt advertising himself as both a literary and advertising agent and creating the firm A. P. Watt & Co in 1881.[Note 1]

Over the following decade, Watt had become the leading literary agent in the UK, in the process creating business practices that became the standard for the commercial literary industry.[1][2]

Early years

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Alexander Pollock Watt was born on 28 October 1837 to James and Elizabeth (Pollock) Watt, in the Bridgeton district of Glasgow, Scotland. He was the oldest of five children.[3][Note 2]By the 1851 census, his family lived in Edinburgh, where his father was a bookbinder and bookseller.[4]Alexander was self-educated through “incessant” reading.[5] He remained in Edinburgh when the rest of the family moved to Carlisle, in Cumbria, England in 1853.[6] In the 1861 Scotland census, he listed employment as a woolen drapers assistant in a fabric shop, and a lodger with another family.[7]

In 1866, Alexander married Roberta Stahan, the sister of Alexander Strahan, a London-based publisher, in Edinburgh.[8] Their first son James was born the following year in Glasgow.[9] Second son Alexander Strahan was born in Lewisham in 1869, highlighting the A. P. Watt family's relocation to London.[10]

Career

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By 1871 Watt began working as a reader for his brother-in-law's publishing business, in 1876 became a partner in the second incarnation of Strahan & Co, and by 1878 an advertising agent selling space in the firm's periodicals. That same year, he developed a professional relationship with the author George MacDonald that began Watt's work as a literary agent.[11]

Legacy

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By 1909, Watt's position within the publishing industry was reflected in the list of clients he and his firm had represented since MacDonald 30 years previously, including Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, H. G. Wells, J. M. Barrie, Wilkie Collins, H. Rider Haggard, Bret Harte, Marie Corelli, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, and Jerome K. Jerome.

His clients' works were licensed to the major British and American publishers and editors of the day, including A & C Black, Chatto & Windus, Houghton Mifflin, Longmans, Methuen, Smith, Elder & Co., George Newnes, J. A. Spender, the Daily Chronicle, and The Illustrated London News.[12]

The agency became A. P. Watt & Son in 1892[13], and celebrated its centenary in 1975. After the end of family control, it become AP Watt, Ltd in 1982, and was bought by United Agents in 2012.[14]

Death

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Watt died at his home at 29 Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, Middlesex, London, England on 3 November 1914.

Estate

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According to the probate register the effects of Watt's estate were £59,828 (equivalent to about £5,318,000 in 2025)[15][Note 3], with his four sons as executors.

Bibliography

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Watt, Alexander Pollock, ed. (1897). Letters addressed to A. P. Watt. London: A. P. Watt & Son.

References

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Citations

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  • "1861 England Census: Household of James Watt". Ancestry.com. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives (TNA). Retrieved 19 September 2026. Class: RG 9; Piece: 3920; Folio: 23; Page: 40; GSU roll: 543206. Place: Caldewgate Civil Parish, Holy Trinity Ecclesiastical Parish, Carlisle Registration District, St Mary Sub-registration district, Cumberland, England. Head of household: James Watt. Person of interest: James Wallace Watt (son).
  • "The JW Story". James Watt & Son, Coffee Roasters. Retrieved 19 September 2026.
  • "1861 Scotland Census, entry for Alexr P Watt (age 23)". ScotlandsPeople. National Records of Scotland. Retrieved 19 September 2026. Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts, Civil Parish: Edinburgh St Cuthberts, County: Midlothian, Registration District: Newington, Registration Number: 685/5, ED: 74, Page: 8, Household Schedule Number: 48, Line: 6, Roll: CSSCT1861_129. Address: 161 Causewayside Eastside. Occupation: Woolen Drapers Assit.
  • "Statutory Registers Births (1867), James Watt". ScotlandsPeople. Burgh of Glasgow: National Records of Scotland. 12 March 1867. Retrieved 20 September 2026. Birth registration for James Watt, born at 8 Granville Place, Glasgow; parents: Alexander Pollock Watt (soft goods warehouseman) and Bertha Ferrier Watt (née Strachan). District of Milton, page 144, entry number 432. National_Records_of_Scotland_id 644/7 432. Initially located via Ancestry.com database.

Notes

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  1. ↑ The A.P. Watt literary agency was founded circa 1875. A contentious date as it is unclear as to when Watt embarked on transitioning from being an advertising to a literary agent; however, the firm celebrated its centenary in 1975.
  2. ↑ Alexander's youngest brother James Wallace Watt was born after the 1851 Scotland census, shortly before the family's move to Cumbria.
  3. ↑ To be specific, the estate's listed amount was £59828 12s. 6d. The pre-decimalisation shillings and pence tally out to an additional £0.63.
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