Background
Henry Waterhouse was born at Westminster, London, England on 13 December 1770. His father had once been the Page of Honour to Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland, King George III"s younger brother.
Henry Waterhouse was born at Westminster, London, England on 13 December 1770. His father had once been the Page of Honour to Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland, King George III"s younger brother.
He was one of twelve children born to William Waterhouse and Susanna Brewer. Henry was the Duke"s godson and namesake. Waterhouse joined the navy as a boy and saw service in various ships before joining the Sirius as a midshipman in 1786.
He sailed with the First Fleet to Australia and was present in 1788 at the first settlement of New South Wales and the settlement of Norfolk Island, returning to Britain in 1791 as a lieutenant.
He transferred to the Bellerophon in 1793 and served in the battle of the Glorious First of June in 1794. In 1796 he sailed to the Cape Colony to procure livestock for New South Wales and brought back the first Merino sheep to be imported to Australia.
Subsequently he made several voyages to Norfolk Island and was the first person to chart the Antipodes Islands in 1800. Waterhouse returned to Britain in 1800 and lived most of the rest of his life near Rochester, Kent.
He is commemorated in the name of Waterhouse Island in north-eastern Tasmania.