A chest tomb is essentially a box-shaped stone monument, typically raised above the floor on a solid base, designed to mark the burial place of a person of some standing. This one records not one but three people beneath it, a man and his two wives, bound together in death under a single Latin motto.

The tomb commemorates Thomas Waterhouse, an alderman of the city of Dublin, who died on the 17th of February 1664. His wives, Rose and Anne, are named alongside him, though no dates are given for either woman. The inscription was recorded by the traveller and antiquary Thomas Dineley, who visited Ireland in the 1670s and left behind detailed notes on monuments, buildings, and local curiosities across the country. His account, later cited by F. E. Ball in a 1913 publication, preserves the full wording: "Here under lyeth interr'd the body of Thomas Waterhouse, late Alderman of the city of Dublin, also the bodies of his beloved wives Rose and Anne." The tomb also bears heraldic arms, though Dineley's transcription does not describe them in detail. The Latin closing phrase, "Virtus Post Funera Vivit," translates roughly as "Virtue lives beyond the grave," a conventional sentiment of the period, but one that gives the monument a particular quiet weight when set against the double bereavement implied by the presence of two wives.

St James' Parish Church stands on James's Street in the Liberties area of Dublin, a neighbourhood with deep roots in the city's medieval and early modern history. The church itself has seen considerable change over the centuries, and not all historic monuments within older Dublin churches have survived intact or in easily accessible condition. Visitors with a particular interest in early modern funerary carving would do well to contact the parish in advance to confirm access to the interior. The tomb sits within a church still in use, so timing a visit around services or arranged openings is advisable. Once inside, the inscription rewards close reading, especially the careful naming of both wives, a detail that feels less like formula and more like genuine record-keeping from a world where such things mattered.