On 15 October 1829, at St. Saviour's Church, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral), James Watney married Rebecca Spurrell, elder daughter of the brewer and hop merchant James Spurrell, of Park Street, Southwark, who was employed by Barclay & Perkins's Anchor Brewery, Southwark.
The garbage architectural design of a conservatory built of secondary wastes of tin cans, cardboard and Watney beer crates, caused a lot of attention from the press and Shiu-Kay appeared on Blue Peter, presented by John Noakes and Percy Thrower.