Friends and colleagues of the late Professor George Watson will gather together in the Cruickshank Botanic Garden tomorrow (Thursday, May 6) to plant a tree in memory of “The Wat”.

Professor Watson, who was 66 when he died last year, was a popular and greatly respected scholar and teacher at the University for more than four decades.

All friends and colleagues are welcome to attend the short ceremony which will take place at 2.30pm in the Rose Garden area.

A former Director and Associate Director of the Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies, Professor Watson was born in Portadown, Co Armagh, and educated at St Patrick’s College Armagh, Queen’s University Belfast and Wadham College Oxford. 

In 1966 he was appointed Lecturer in English at Aberdeen and spent his entire career at the University until his retirement in 2005.  

He was the last Head of the English Department before the School of Language and Literature was established in 2001. 

Professor Watson was also a founding member of the British Association of Irish Studies and Director of the Yeats International Summer School in Sligo between 1998 and 2000.

For further details about the memorial ceremony please contact Lawrie McLean on 272325.