Hubert Watts was the son of John Watts, an Iron & Steel Merchant in South Shields (later to be running a nut and bolt manufacturing business in Newcastle), and his wife, Annie Elizabeth Watts.

He attended the High School from 1898 to 1903 to go into his father's business, and by 1911 was the manager of his father's company, Watts Hardy & Co Ltd.

He served as 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Scottish), and was wounded on 13-Oct-1916.

He was still serving with the Northumberland Fusiliers when he died in Jesmond on 8-Feb-1919. His burial record says that he was still with the 3rd Battalion, however his probate record shows that he was with the 27th Battalion.