Roland was born on 26th February 1897 in Brasted, Kent to parents William and Alice, the sixth of seven children listed on the 1901 census, the family living at Chart Lane in Brasted, Kent. He was baptised on 9th July 1899 in the village of his birth.
Ten years later with Roland aged fourteen and attending school he was listed on the 1911 census still living in the same village. Several of his siblings had left the family home and he was one of eleven children to the Waterhouse’s.
Roland joined the Royal Navy from the Training Ship Warspite for twelve years service, recorded as 5’5” tall with brown hair, blue eyes and a small scar on his right temple.
HMS GANGES - 25/07/1912 - 29/11/1912, training as a Boy 2nd Class
HMS GANGES II - 30/11/1912 - 10/02/1913, rising to Boy 1st Class on 10/02/1913
HMS HAWKE - 11/02/1913 - 23/05/1913
HMS PEMBROKE - 24/05/1913 - 11/06/1913
HMS LONDON - 12/06/1913 - 13/02/1914
HMS PEMBROKE I - 14/02/1914 - 30/03/1914
HMS VANGUARD - 31/03/1914 - 09/07/1917, rising to Ordinary Seaman on 03/12/1914 and Able Seaman on 29/07/1915 and serving during the Battle of Jutland.
His Star, Victory and British war medals were issued to his father following his death aboard the dreadnought. His body never recovered, he is remembered in perpetuity on the Chatham Naval Memorial and locally on the Brasted war memorial.
#184 - 793/843
Sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 Free BMD
England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
1901 & 1911 England Census
Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services, 1848-1939 National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; Royal Navy Registers of Seamen's Services; Class: ADM 188; Piece: 684
Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll, 1914-1919 TNA Series: ADM 242/10; Scan Number: 0916
Navy Lists, 1888-1970
CWGC Register
Naval Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1972 Class: ADM 171; Piece: 118
R Waterhouse images courtesy of Stephen Tomlinson
Memorial images courtesy of warmemorialsonline.org
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