Winifred Watson was born at Whitley Bay near Newcastle and educated at St Ronan's, a boarding school at Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Although she was expected to attend university, as her sisters had, she was unable to because of the impact of the Depression on her father's shoe business.
"[2] Watson married Leslie Pickering, manager of a local timber firm, in January 1936.
[2] Her first novel, Fell Top, was written in part as a result of a dare from her brother-in-law after she remarked that what she was reading was rubbish and she could do better herself.
A musical film version was planned, starring Billie Burke as Miss Pettigrew, but Pearl Harbor put paid to that.
She published her sixth and final novel, Leave and Bequeath, in 1943, a mystery story set in a country house.
The film Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was released in 2008 with Frances McDormand in the lead role and Amy Adams as Delysia Lafosse.