Reverend George Stuart Watts papers, 1926-1988

MLMSS 9022

fonds

1926-1988

Textual Records, Clippings

411696

4.79 metres of textual material (30 boxes)

George Stuart Watts (1899-1988), clergyman, philosopher and educator, was born in 1899 at Lower Nambucca, New South Wales. Baptised and confirmed in the Church of England, in 1917 he became a local preacher at the Macksville Methodist church.

Watts entered Leigh College, Enfield, in 1918. He was then accepted into the Joint Theological Faculty attached to St Andrew’s College, University of Sydney. In 1921 he was appointed as the Methodist minister at Gulgong, and in 1923 he began contributing to the 'Methodist'.

In mid-1927 Watts resigned from the Methodist ministry and briefly entered St John’s (Anglican) College, Morpeth. Made deacon in 1927, he was appointed curate of Tamworth and was priested in 1928. In 1929 he moved to the diocese of Grafton, as rector of Nambucca. He began contributing to the Church Standard, and in 1933 he was named editor. After 1935 his editorial policy, which he described as one of ‘progressive theological thought and Christian social justice’, became increasingly radical and in 1940 he was dismissed by the lay directors.

Appointed chaplain in the Australian Imperial Force in 1944, he served in New Guinea. Demobilised in 1946, he returned to Casino and wrote for Tribune and Vestes.

In 1955 Watts was appointed tutor in comparative religion with the department of tutorial classes, later known as Adult Education, at the University of Sydney. In 1956 he co-founded the Sydney Philosophy Club, of which he was later president. He also lectured for the Workers’ Educational Association. In 1978 Watts retired, and in 1982 he published The Revolution of Ideas: Philosophy, Religion & Some ‘Ultimate Questions’.

References:
Ruth Teale, 'Watts, George Stuart (1899–1988)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/watts-george-stuart-15846/text27045, accessed 15 July 2013.

Reverend George Stuart Watts papers, 1926-1988. The collection mainly comprises lecture notes, correspondence and newscuttings concerning Watts’ work as a tutor in comparative religion, philosophy and ethics with the department of tutorial classes at the University of Sydney. Also included is preparatory material for Watts’ book The Revolution of Ideas: Philosophy Religion and Some 'Ultimate Questions', published by Hale & Iremonger, 1982.

Copyright status:: In copyright - This collection has multiple rights owners
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales and Courtesy copyright holder

Information upgraded as part of the Manuscripts Unprocessed eRecords project 2013-2014

Detailed Contents list compiled by Harry Nicolson for Boxes 1-25
'A Guide to the papers of Reverend George Stuart Watts' by Harry Nicholson on file