Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Builder Charles Waterhouse was a veteran of the South African (Boer) War. He lived with his wife Ada at 9 Queen Street, Auburn and was a member of the Auburn Methodist Church.
Waterhouse enlisted at Holsworthy on 20 September 1915, declaring his age as ’38 years 3 months’. With five other Auburn Memorial men, Owen Coughlan, George Jerome, John Hoban, Clyde Davis and Herbert Jones, Waterhouse embarked on the Suevic in December 1915.
In Egypt, Private Waterhouse was allocated to the 18th Battalion and he arrived at the French port city of Marseilles on 28 March 1916. Transferred to the 3rd Battalion, Waterhouse served on the Western Front for seven months before he was killed in action on 5 November 1916. Waterhouse was one of eight Auburn Memorial men lost in the last days of First Battle of the Somme.
Waterhouse had been in the AIF for a little over a year, with no wounds, accidents, diseases or crimes against his name. He was buried in the Bulls Road Cemetery at Flers in northern France. For his gravestone his wife chose the inscription: EVER REMEMBERED
Charles Waterhouse is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Municipality of Auburn 1914-1919 Honour Roll
- Auburn Methodist Church First World War Honour Roll
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal 1914-20
- Victory Medal
