George Waterhouse

George Waterhouse was born 1824 in Cornwall and educated at Wesleyan College near Bristol.

Waterhouse moved to Tasmania with his father in 1839 and in 1843 went into business in Adelaide. He was so successful that at the age of 27 he was able to retire if he so chose.

He was elected to the South Australia Legislative Council where he served until June 1854 when he resigned to travel overseas. He visited the United States and Great Britain and returned in 1856 where he got involved once more in South Australia politics becoming Chief Secretary on two occasions. He resigned his seat in December 1863 and in 1869 appeared in New Zealand where he purchased a 20000 acre station in south Wairarapa.

In May 1870 he was appointed to the Legislative Council by Fox who had met him previously in Australia. During his years in office he never accepted a salary as he was sufficiently well off.

In October 1871 he joined the Executive and continued to play a major role in the affairs of the Legislative Council. In October 1872 Vogel was called upon to form a Government and Vogel proposed that Waterhouse be made Premier. This was unique in that Waterhouse had no portfolio, no salary and no seat in the lower House. However Vogel was seen to hold much of the actual power of the office and Waterhouse resigned in March 1873.

Waterhouse remained as an MP until 1890 and served as Speaker of the Legislative Council in 1887. In 1888 he left New Zealand for good and returned to Devon where he died on 6 August 1906.