Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ernest was the son of Henry WATERS & Frances HETLEY in 1870 in Longwton, Huntingdon, England.
He was born Ernest Hetley WATERS. It is not known why but Ernest dropped the surname of WATERS and claimed his middle name of HETLEY (mother’s maiden name) as his surname.

His parents were married on the 3rd of October 1865 in the Parish Church, St Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street, London.

His father was the son of Henry WATERS and was born in 1845 in Leicester, England.
His mother was the daughter of Henry HETLEY & Elizabeth Wright FIGG and was born in 1831 in Peterborough, Northamptonshire, England.

Ernest was the youngest child born into the family of 3 children.

His father was the Curate under the Vicar of Waberton and then became the Reverend Prison Chaplin of Coldbath Fields Prison.

By 1891 Ernest was employed as a Bank Clerk living with his parents at 27 Alexandra Road Bedfordshire.

His mother died on the 15th of September 1893 in Bedfordshire, England and they buried her in the Foster Hill Road Cemetery; Section H4, Plot 241.
Her probate was worth £1162 12s. 6d and was granted to Ernest.

On the 8th of February 1895 Ernest departed from England on board the Orizaba and immigrated to Australian, disembarking in Adelaide on the 19th of May 1895.

By 1902 he was a Fruit Grower living in Argent Street, Broken Hill and had joined the 82nd Infantry.

At the age of 31, Ernest enlisted into the 8th South Australian Commonwealth Horse on the 21st of April 1902 in Broken Hill, NSW and allotted the Regimental Number 46 and posted to “B” Squadron.

He embarked from Pt Adelaide on board the transport ship St. Andrew on the 26th of May 1902 and arrived in Durban on the 19th of June.

Whilst they were on the voyage the Boer forces surrendered on the 31st of May.

Ernest became ill in Durban and was admitted into hospital and whilst he was in hospital his Battalion embarked at Durban on the 1st of July on board the transport ship Manchester Merchant, disembarking in Adelaide on the 24th of July.

Ernest returned after he recovered and was discharged when the South Australian Squadrons were disbanded on the 9th of August 1902.

By 1914 he was living in the Palace Hotel, Broken Hill and was a clerk.

In the 22nd of August 1914 Ernest’s cousin; Walter Hetley WATERS enlisted into the 10th Battalion, A Company and was allotted the service number 206. He went on to receive the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) with the 4th Machine Gun Battalion.

At the age of 44, Ernest enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 24th of August 1914 in Morphettville and posted to the newly raised 3rd Light Horse Regiment, “B” Squadron, No.4 Troop at Morphettville Camp.

Ernest embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A17 Port Lincoln on the 22nd of October 1914. He served at Gallipoli and in Egypt and after 4 years overseas Ernest embarked from Seuz on board HMAT Argyllshire on the 22nd of December 1918, disembarking in Adelaide on the 28th of January 1919.
Ernest was discharged from the AIF on the 29th of March 1919.

Whilst he was overseas his other cousin; William Verender WATERS also enlisted on the 20th of April 1916 and served with the 5th Pioneer Battalion.

Ernest married Alice HOSKING in 1921.
Alice was the daughter of James HOSKING & Harriett Ann MIDDLETON and was born on the 16th of February 1865 in Wallaroo, SA.

They made their first home at Wall Street, Norwood and by 1925 they had moved to 69 First Avenue, Nailsworth and Ernest was a gardener.

Alice died on the 22nd of April 1948 at their home and Ernest buried her in the North Road Cemetery; Path 0, Plot 1753.

Ernest died on the 7th of August 1953 in the Royal Adelaide Hospital and was buried 3 days later in the North Road Cemetery; Path 0, Plot 1753 with Alice.

Military

Boer War

At the age of 31, Ernest enlisted into the 8th South Australian Commonwealth Horse on the 21st of April 1902 in Broken Hill, NSW and allotted the Regimental Number 46 and posted to “B” Squadron.
He listed his father Henry Hetley, of the Isle of Wight, as his next of kin.

The Battalion comprised of 13 officers, 232 other ranks and 250 horses and embarked from Pt Adelaide on board the transport ship St. Andrew on the 26th of May 1902 and arrived in Durban on the 19th of June.

Whilst they were on the voyage the Boer forces surrendered on the 31st of May, so upon arrival the left wing of the Battalion proceeded to Newcastle under the command of Major Osborne and the right wing remained in Durban.
Ernest received at £100 bonus as well as his pay for the “cruise”.

Ernest became ill in Durban and was admitted into hospital.
Whilst he was in hospital his Battalion embarked at Durban on the 1st of July on board the transport ship Manchester Merchant, disembarking in Adelaide on the 24th of July.

Ernest returned after he recovered and was discharged when the South Australian Squadrons were disbanded on the 9th of August 1902.

WW1

At the age of 44, Ernest enlisted into the 1st AIF on the 24th of August 1914 in Morphettville and posted to the newly raised 3rd Light Horse Regiment, “B” Squadron, 4 Troop at Morphettville Camp.
He listed his uncle, Rev. H Waters, of Isle of Wight, England, as his next of kin. However this was in fact his father and he lied about his age on his enlistment papers, claiming her was only 36 years old.

They trained at Morphettville Camp and on the 21st of September they marched through the streets of Adelaide.
On the 4th of October they moved camp to north of Bay Road in Mr A Morphett’s paddock.
On the 21st of October they marched out at 2.30pm for Outer Harbour for embarkation the following day.

Ernest embarked from Adelaide on board HMAT A17 Port Lincoln on the 22nd of October 1914 and on board were 19 officers, 347 men and 338 horses.
They arrived in Albany four days later at 6.30am on the 26th and on the 1st of November the convoy of 26 Australian transports and 10 New Zealand transports were escorted out of Albany at 6.am by HMS Minatour, HMAS Sydney and Melbourne.

After two weeks at sea they arrived in Colombo at 2pm on the 15th of November and after re coaling they left Colombo on the 17th at 11am.
They arrived in Aden on the 25th at 5pm and left at 6am the following morning and had reached the Red Sea three days later where they received their instructions that they would complete their training in Cairo and proceed from there to the front. They received their first inoculations for Typhoid on the same day.

On the 1st of December they arrived at Suez and they following day they sailed for Port Said, arriving at 7am on the 3rd.
After two days anchored here they sailed for Alexandria and arrived at 10am on the morning of the 6th. After two days anchored in the harbour they came alongside the wharf at 4.40pm but did not embark until 7am the following day.

They were then entrained to Cairo and then marched into Ma’adi Camp on the 10th at 8am.
Christmas 1914 was spent here and then they moved to Aerodrome Camp at Heliopolis on the 31st of January 1915 to be near the rest of the Division for Divisional training.
All of March and April were spent here and then on the 9th of May the Regiment left Heliopolis Camp and entrained from Pailais Kubba for Alexandria.

However, Ernest stayed at Aerodrome Camp and didn’t rejoin his Regiment until the 25th of October at Gallipoli.
When he rejoined them they were located at Destroyer Hill and when Ernest suffered from frost bite to both his feet on the 2nd of December, they were still located at Destroyer Hill.
Ernest spent 9 days in the 1st Light Horse Field Ambulance before rejoining his Regiment on the 11th, still at Destroyer Hill.

At midnight on the 13th the Regiment embarked from Gallipoli on board HMAT Karro for Mudros Bay.
On the same day Ernest was admitted into the hospital on board the ship suffering from his frost bite.
He was then transferred to HT Caledonia on the 17th and disembarked in Alexandria on the 24th and admitted into the 19th General Hospital.
Ernest spent Christmas 1915 here before being transferred to the 2nd General Hospital in Ghezireh on the 30th.

Ernest was then transferred to the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital in Heliopolis on New Years Day 1916 and three days later he was transferred to the Convalescent Hospital. He was in and out of hospital until the 29th of March when he returned to duty at the 1st Light Horse Training Regiment at Moascar.

On the 13th of May he was transferred to Kit Base and then attached to the Australian Depot Stores. On the 9th of September he was truck off strength with the 3rd Light Horse Regiment and transferred to the Australian Depot Stores in Ghezireh.

He suffered badly from his trench feet and was admitted into the 14th Australian General Hospital in Abbassia on the 26th of April 1917 and then remained there as a guard.
He was then transferred to the 1st Machine Gun Squadron, with the rank of driver, on the 5th of June 1917. The Squadron was in camp at Kazar in training.

On the 18th of June they moved to Marakeb Beach Camp and then onto Al Fukhkhari on the 29th and then to El Gamli four days later, on the 1st of July.
During this time they carried out reconnaissance near Rafa and Beeresheba and supported both the 1st and 3rd Light Horse Regiments.

On the 18th of August they moved back to Marakeb Beach Camp after after 4 weeks here resting and training they moved to El Gamli for 3 weeks.
On the 14th of October they moved to Rafa Beach for 10 days and then moved to Al Fukhkhari.
From here the entire Brigade started their moved towards Tel-el-Saba, which was located 5 kilometres east of Beeresheba.
Tel-el-Saba was ear marked as a crucial point to take as its rocky summit was an ideal position for infantry and machine guns and two rows of trenches around its steep sides provided the enemy with control of the wide bare plains to the east and south.

Tel-el-Saba fell to the ANZAC’s on the 31st of October and they then moved to the outskirts of Beersheba and after the charge they had taken Beeresheba by the afternoon.

They were then involved in the Battle Tel-el-Khuweilfe and Hareira and Sheria on the 6th and 7th of November, with Ayun Kara next on the 14th of November.
The remained in this area for all of December and Christmas 1917 was spent here and they them moved to Isolation Camp at Ayun Kara on the 12th of February.

On the 20th of March 1918 Ernest was temporarily detached to Division Train before rejoining his Squadron on the 5th of May who were at Jericho.
Ernest was later involved in the Third Transjordan attack between the 21st and 25th of September and then the Second Battle of Amman the following day.

By October they had moved to Wadi Hamman and whilst here Ernest was admitted to hospital suffering from his original frost bite and trench feet.
He was transferred to the 36th Stationary Hospital in Mahemdia, Sinai and then onto the 24th Stationary Hospital in Kantara on the 11th of November.
The very same day he was transferred here the Armistice was signed.

Five days later Ernest was transferred to the 14th Australian General Hospital in Abbassia where he remained until the 21st of December.

Ernest embarked from Seuz on board HMAT Argyllshire on the 22nd of December 1918, disembarking in Adelaide on the 28th of January 1919.
Ernest was discharged from the AIF on the 29th of March 1919 and awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory Medals.