Sir Charles Ernest Hercus DSO OBE VD (13 June 1888 – 26 March 1971) was a New Zealand doctor and professor of public health.

He served in World War I at Gallipoli and the Middle East, rising to rank of major in the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Field Ambulance from January 1917.

[1][2] Hercus married Isabella Rea Jones at Johnsonville on 6 February 1923, and the couple went on to have four children.

[1] In recognition of his military service during World War I, Hercus was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in the 1918 King's Birthday Honours,[3] and an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1919 King's Birthday Honours.

[5] In 1962, he was conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Otago.