Family

Waterson

Sidney Frank Waterson (1896‑1976), elder son of John Waterson, a Johannesburg architect, was born in Sydenham, Kent, and educated in England at St Clare, Walmer, and Westminster School (1909‑1914), where he was a Kings Scholar. After leaving school he joined the Royal Sussex Regiment in 1915 and was seconded to the Machine Gun Corps in 1917, fighting in Salonika and France. He ended the war as a lieutenant with the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division. After the war he settled at the Cape and joined a firm of wine merchants, J. Sedgewick and Co. Ltd. Ten years later he was a director of the firm. In 1924 he married Hilda Maud (Betty), daughter of Major John Alfred Eugene and Maud Markus, and born in Bloemfontein in 1893. Major Markus had been Commissioner of Police in the Orange Free State before the Anglo Boer War. Later he was manager of the Gresham Life Assurance Co. in Cape Town. During World War I the Markus' only son, Eugene, was killed in action, and Mrs Markus and her three daughters went to France to serve as nurses with the Anglo‑French Red Cross Society. S.F. Waterson entered politics in 1929 as United Party Member of Parliament for the South Peninsula constituency and in January 1939 was sent to France as South African Minister Plenipotentiary in Paris. In September 1939 he was appointed South African High Commissioner in London. In October 1939 Mrs Waterson founded the South African Voluntary Service, of which she was Chairwoman, and the Countess of Clarendon president. The SAVS had two objects ‑ to care for the needs and welfare of South African men and women serving in the Forces, and to act as a channel for the many gifts from South Africa to the people of Britain. Mrs Waterson was also the representative of the South African Red Cross in London. Smuts recalled Mr Waterson at the end of 1942 to succeed R. Stuttaford as Minister of Commerce & Industry in the War Cabinet. In 1945 Mines was added to his portfolio, as was Transport in 1948. After 1948 Waterson was the chief Opposition spokesman on financial affairs for over 20 years. His parliamentary career covered almost 40 years. He was M.P. for the following constituencies: South Peninsula 1929‑1938, Claremont 1943‑1953 and Constantia 1953‑1970. Besides working for the United Party, Mrs Waterson was president of the Invalid Children's Aid Society and the Maitland Cottage Homes, being instrumental in the move of the Home in 1959 from inadequate premises in Maitland to its present site in Newlands.
The Watersons have a son, Michael (at present living in Johannesburg), and a daughter, Priscilla (now Mrs du Toit, living in Cradock).