NAME: William Henry WATERS                                                                

SERVICE NO: 1462

YEAR OF BIRTH: 1893

PLACE OF BIRTH: Edenhope

DATE OF ENLISTMENT: 1 December 1914

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT: Hamilton

AGE AT ENLISTMENT:  21

UNIT: 14th Battalion

EMBARKED: 2 February 1915

TROOP SHIP: HMAT A46 Clan Macgillivray

FATE: Died of Wounds – 8 May 1915 – Alexandria, Egypt.

“The youth of the town have had their first piercing illustration of what war means in the Iast resort when they realise that one of their number will never associate with them again.”

With those words, on 24 May 1915, the Hamilton Spectator announced to the district that the war had claimed the first Hamilton man.

William Henry Waters, the son of Mark Henry Waters and Martha Deans of Milton Street Hamilton, was born in Edenhope in 1893. Known as ‘Harry’, he attended Hamilton State School and was working as a labourer at the time of his enlistment on 1 December 1914. William left Australia with the 14th Battalion, as part of the 4th Brigade, on 2 February 1915.  

After surviving the landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, William received gunshot wounds to his lower body on 5 May and was transported to Alexandria. He died from his wounds in hospital on 8 May 1915. William was buried at the Chatby Military and War Memorial Cemetery, in Alexandria, Egypt.

On 18 February 1916, the Hamilton Spectator published a letter sent to Williams’ mother Martha. It was from John Mills of Hamilton who also served with the 14th Battalion. He told Martha that ‘Harry’ and others were about to enter a trench when attacked by Turks. Harry seemed lucid, and they were sure he would pull through, so it shocked them to hear the news he had died. John said his sergeant believed Harry was the gamest man in the platoon. Martha died in 1919, aged sixty.

William Waters was remembered by the Hamilton Elementary School, had a tree planted in his honour in Hamilton’s Anzac Avenue, and was named on the Hamilton War Memorial.

ONLINE SOURCES

Australian War Memorial-14th Australian Infantry Battalion

Australian War Memorial-Roll of Honour-William Henry Waters

Australian War Memorial-WW1 Embarkation Roll-William Henry Waters

Commonwealth War Graves Commission-William Henry Waters

National Archives of Australia-WW1 Service Record-William Henry Waters

Newspaper articles from Trove-William Henry Waters

The AIF Project-Walter Henry Waters