| Country: | England |
| Fullname: | Joseph Riley Watson |
| Birth Date: | 28 March 1859 |
| Birth Place: | Steeton, Yorkshire, England |
| Death Place: | Harrogate, Yorkshire, England |
| Batting: | Unknown |
| Bowling: | Unknown |
| Club1: | Cambridge University |
| Year1: | 1882 |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 2 |
| Runs1: | 2 |
| Bat Avg1: | 0.66 |
| 100S/50S1: | –/– |
| Top Score1: | 1 |
| Deliveries1: | 32 |
| Wickets1: | 0 |
| Bowl Avg1: | – |
| Fivefor1: | – |
| Tenfor1: | – |
| Best Bowling1: | – |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 1/– |
| Date: | 25 January |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Source: | https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/joseph-watson-22782 Cricinfo |
Joseph Riley Watson (28 March 1859 – 18 October 1915) was an English medical doctor and public health official who was also in his youth a cricketer who played first-class cricket in two matches in the 1880s.[1] He was born at Steeton-in-Craven, Yorkshire and died at Harrogate, also in Yorkshire.
Watson was educated at Pannal College, Harrogate and then at a succession of medical training establishments and universities: The Yorkshire College of Science (later Leeds University); University College, London; Christ's College, Cambridge; and then the University of Edinburgh.[2] He graduated from Cambridge University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1884 and followed that with a medical degree from Edinburgh in 1887.[2] He was a Doctor of Public Health from 1894 and a member of the Royal College of Physicians. He practised in Harrogate where he later became the medical officer of health for the borough of Harrogate.[2]
As a cricketer, Watson played in one first-class match for Cambridge University against the Australians in 1882, in which he batted at No 11 and bowled just eight overs without success; in 1888 he played a further single game for "An England XI", an end-of-season match against that year's Australians at Harrogate, and did not bowl at all.[1] He scored a single run in each of his two games.