A wealthy clothier, descended two generations back from a younger son of a family of Berkshire gentry, Watlington had originally been nominated to municipal office in Cambridge under the 1684 charter. He and another alderman, John Pepys*, were returned at the 1695 election in place of two country gentlemen, and presumably on the Tory interest. Watlington was forecast as likely to oppose the Court in the divisions on 31 Jan. 1696 on the proposed council of trade and, although he signed the Association promptly, was listed as voting against fixing the price of guineas at 22s. in March. He had, however, been given leave of absence on 3 Mar., for three weeks. He voted on 25 Nov. 1696 against Sir John Fenwick’s† attainder, but thereafter seems to have been irregular in his attendance. Leave of absence was granted to him again on 8 Mar. 1697 and 28 May 1698. Such a record did not necessarily improve his standing with his constituents, and in the 1698 general election he lost his seat at Cambridge, after a contest, though he was subsequently chosen as mayor for a second time, probably in compensation. In a comparative analysis of the old and new Parliaments he was marked as a supporter of the Country party.3 Berry, 82–84; Cambridge bor. recs. common day bk. 1681–1722, p. 287; Add. 28931, f. 194.
Watlington died on 24 Oct. 1700, aged 60, and was buried in his parish church of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge, where his monument proclaimed his services to the Church and to the common weal. He divided his landed property (in Lincolnshire and Middlesex as well as in Cambridge) between his sons, and added bequests in money to other relatives and friends amounting to about £3,000.4 Diary of Samuel Newton, 111; Le Neve, Mon. Angl. 1700–15, p. 13; PCC 29 Dyer.