William John Watts was a businessman, lawyer and political figure in Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. He represented Drummond-Arthabaska

Drummond (provincial electoral district)

Drummond is a provincial electoral riding in the province of Quebec, Canada. Located in the Centre-du-Quebec region, the district was created in 1890. From 1867 to 1886, it was part of the riding of Drummond-Arthabaska...

 in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec

Legislative Assembly of Quebec

The Legislative Assembly of Quebec was the name of the lower house of Quebec's legislature until 1968, when it was renamed the National Assembly of Quebec. At the same time, the upper house of the legislature, the Legislative Council, was abolished...

 from 1874 to 1885 and Drummond

Drummond (provincial electoral district)

Drummond is a provincial electoral riding in the province of Quebec, Canada. Located in the Centre-du-Quebec region, the district was created in 1890. From 1867 to 1886, it was part of the riding of Drummond-Arthabaska...

 from 1890 to 1892 and from 1897 to 1901 as a Conservative.

He was born in Drummondville

Drummondville, Quebec

Drummondville is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 67,392...

, Canada East

Canada East

Canada East was the eastern portion of the United Province of Canada. It consisted of the southern portion of the modern-day Canadian Province of Quebec, and was primarily a French-speaking region....

, the son of Robert Nugent Watts

Robert Nugent Watts

Robert Nugent Watts was a political figure in Canada East. He represented Drummond in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1851....

 and Charlotte Sheppard. Watts studied at McGill University

McGill University

Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...

, was called to the Quebec bar in 1869 and set up practice in Drummondville. He also owned several mills. He was first elected to the Quebec assembly in an 1874 by-election held after Wilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....

 was elected to the House of Commons. In 1882, he married Mary Louisa Millar. Watts resigned his seat in 1885 following the execution of Louis Riel

Louis Riel

Louis David Riel was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political and spiritual leader of the Métis people of the Canadian prairies. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian government and its first post-Confederation Prime Minister, Sir John A....

. He was defeated by Joseph Peter Cooke

Joseph Peter Cooke

Joseph Peter Cooke was a lawyer and political figure in Quebec. He represented Drummond in the Legislative Assembly of Quebec from 1892 to 1897 as a Conservative....

 when he ran for reelection in 1890. He resigned his seat in 1901 after he was named registrar for Montreal West

Montreal West, Quebec

Montreal West is a town in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the Island of Montreal. On January 1, 2002 it, along with its neighboring suburbs of Côte Saint-Luc and Hampstead, was merged into a borough of the City of Montreal to be known as Côte-Saint-Luc—Hampstead—Montréal-Ouest, though 97% of the...

and served until his death in Drummondville at the age of 61.