John Steven Watson FRSE was an English historian who served as Principal of the University of St Andrews from 1966-86.

Having been educated at the Merchant Taylors' School

Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood

Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....

, Steven Watson went up to St John's College

St John's College, Oxford

__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...

 Oxford where he took a first in history (MA 1939).

After serving at the Ministry of Fuel and Power during the war he returned to Oxford as a student and tutor at Christ Church

Christ Church, Oxford

Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...

 where he established an international reputation as an historian of the eighteenth century. This led to him being asked to contribute the volume on The Reign of George III for the Oxford History of England

Oxford History of England

The Oxford History of England is one of the most prominent and acclaimed modern history series, written by many of the then-leading historians of each period....

 following the death of Richard Pares.

He later became a liked and successful principal

Principal (academia)

The Principal is the chief executive and the chief academic officer of a university or college in certain parts of the Commonwealth.-Canada:...

 of St Andrews University in Fife, Scotland. He announced that he was to retire in September 1986 but died in June of that year.