Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edward Alexander Watherston: 856 Rank: Private Unit: 10th Battalion (Infantry) Date of death: 23 July 1916 Place of death: France Cemetery or memorial details: Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France Source: AWM145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1918 War, Army See full service record in the sidebar.

The Watherston family was historically associated with Boston Island,  which dominates the seaward side of Port Lincoln's spectacular harbour.  The tragic story of the Watherston family is the most profound story of sacrifice by a single family in the course of Australia's involvement with the Great War of 1914 - 18.   Four brothers and one cousin were to give their lives in the country's name.  All the cousin died within the first 18 months of Australia's involvement.

This tragedy was preceded by the loss of both parents in a tragic boating accident prior to the war. Cyril had been rowing his parents out to their cutter so they could cross Boston Harbour to attend church.The dinghy capsized and all three were cast into the water.  He made it to shore but his parents drowned.  His other brothers and sister helped pull the bodies of their parents from the sea that had claimed them.  Their older sister raised her other siblings.

Each of the brothers found their way into the Marine and Harbours infrastructure that was a feature of every port of note around Australia's coastline, and it is one of the reasons it took so long for their story to surface.  Because they enlisted in different States, they appear on the Memorials of the State in which they enlisted.

Edward was working in Port Pirie so he is recorded on the SA National War Memorial in Adelaide as well as the others listed. 

Frank was the first to fall succumbing to wounds  received at Gallipoli. 

Cyril, having transferred to the same Battalion as Edward, was killed near the village of Fleurbaix in what was known as the "Nursery Sector", during the course of a period of familiarisation of the AIF with trench warfare on the Western Front. Cyril was not the victim of a large scale action but rather of a sporadic incident.

Edward Alexander Watherston was killed on the first day of Australian operations near the ruins of the village of Pozieres (promounced 'pozzeeair') during the course of the British Somme Offensive in the high summer of 1916.  In the following five weeks at Pozieres and nearby Mouquet (Pronounced 'mookay') Farm, the AIF sustained 23,000 casualties, more than 5,000 of them killed, severely impacting the 1st, 2nd and 4th DIvisions.

James was killed just a few weeks later with the 12th Battalion at Mouquet Farm on 16 August.

It is impossible to fathom what the remaining family must have felt as news of the brothers' loss made it home.  The grief didn't end there.  Two cousins were lost in 1918; one in an accident afetr the war's end in London.  The cumulative loss of the Watherstons is possibly the most profound we have encountered in compiling this Memorial.

Port Lincoln historian Geoffrey 'Lee' Clayton has compiled the story of the Watherstones over a period of 14 years after first noticing two "Dead Men's Pennies" at a deceased Estate auction. He susbequenty tracked down the remainder less one already held elsewhere in the family.  See the link in the sidebar.

Click on the 'Show Relationships' tab to see the stories of each of them.