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T. G. Waterhouse

merchant, grocer, businessman, investor, philanthropist

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 17, 2025
Entity authorityQ16062975 ↗
Source-derived summary

Thomas Greaves Waterhouse JP (22 January 1811, Conisborough, Yorkshire – 9 October 1885, London) was a businessman, investor and philanthropist in early colonial South Australia arriving soon after the start of official settlement. He was one of the early shareholders of the Burra Burra Mine, and for a long time held a seat on the Directorate. He was also involved in the establishment of the Bank of Adelaide.

Biography

T. G. Waterhouse was born on 22 January 1811 in Conisborough, Yorkshire. Aged 29, he came to the colony of South Australia (established in 1836), on the Lysander, landing at Port Adelaide on 6 September 1840.

He and his brother John ran a successful grocery business at the southern corner of King William Street and Rundle Street, dubbed "Waterhouse's Corner", the other side of Rundle Street (now Rundle Mall) being the veteran Beehive Corner.

Adelaide's oldest shop (founded 1847) is Waterhouse Chambers at 42-46 King William Street. After twenty years in the colony he retired from business in 1861. Following his retirement, his affairs were managed by his eldest son Arthur.

A member of the Wesleyan Church, he devoted one-tenth of his income to the causes of charity and religion, and did not confine his benevolence to his own Church, extending it to all charitable objects and the assistance of struggling men.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “T. G. Waterhouse” as merchant, grocer, businessman, investor, philanthropist. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1811, 1885, 1836, 1840—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1811-01-22. The account is most persuasive where Waterhouse, merchant and grocer can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as merchant, grocer, businessman, investor, philanthropist. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 17, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q16062975. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1811, 1885, 1836 and 1840.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “T. G. Waterhouse”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow T. G. Waterhouse primary sources, T. G. Waterhouse archive and Waterhouse research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “T. G. Waterhouse”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “T. G. Waterhouse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.