The Newcastle Daily Chronicle 24/11/1921 reports:
"Put to death by Sinn Feiners.
South Shields Officers's fate confirmed.
The relatives of Lieut. W.S. Watts, a young South Shields officer, have received definite information from the War Office that he was put to death by Sinn Fein. This information is the sequel to a report received about a year ago by the widow, who resides in Hedley Street, South Shields, that Lieut. Watts was missing.
At the time of his disappearance the deceased officer had been in Ireland about three months, and it was on November 15, 1920, that he and two other officers were taken from a train by armed men near Waterford, and the last seen of Watts was when he was observed standing on a bridge at Waterford, holding his hands to his head, surrounded by a crowd of Sinn Feiners.
Lieut. Watts joined the army during the war and was gazetted a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. After demobilisation he returned to his native town, and later, when the need for men arose in Ireland, he offered his services and was given a commission in his own unit and posted to Ireland."
He is remembered in South Shields on S86.106
