Alfred Henry "Harry" Hook VC (6 August 1850 – 12 March 1905) was an English recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and

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forces, for his actions at the

Battle of Rorke's Drift The Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879), also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defence of the mission (station), mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenants ...

Background

Born in

Churcham Churcham is a small village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean District of Gloucestershire in England, located west of Gloucester. It has a population of 655.Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, Hook originally served in the Monmouth Militia for five years before enlisting in the regular army in March 1877, aged 26. Previously serving in the 9th Xhosa War in 1877, he received a scalp injury during the battle of Rorke's Drift, and retired from the regular army 17 months later in June 1880, but later served 20 years in 1st Volunteer Battalion,

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

, reaching the rank of sergeant-instructor. He received his VC from

Sir Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (4 June 183325 March 1913), was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, We ...

, GOC South Africa at Rorke's Drift on 3 August 1879. After his 1880 discharge he was found the position of inside duster at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

thanks to the intervention of

Gonville Bromhead Major Gonville Bromhead VC (29 August 1845 – 9 February 1891) was a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to members of the British armed forces. H ...

Lord Chelmsford Viscount Chelmsford, of Chelmsford in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1921 for Frederic Thesiger, 3rd Baron Chelmsford, the former Viceroy of India. The title of Baron Chelmsford, of Chelm ...

and the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. He was subsequently promoted to take charge of readers' umbrellas, before resigning due to ill health in 1904. During this period he lived at

Sydenham Hill Sydenham Hill forms part of a longer ridge and is an affluent locality in southeast London. It is also the name of a road which runs along the northeastern part of the ridge, demarcating the London Boroughs of Southwark, Bromley, and Lewisham ...

. He died of

pulmonary tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

on 12 March 1905 at Osborne Villas, Roseberry Avenue, Gloucester and is buried in St Andrew's churchyard, Churcham.

Rorke's Drift

Alfred Henry Hook was 28 years old, and a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in B Company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot (later

The South Wales Borderers The South Wales Borderers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for 280 years. It came into existence in England in 1689, as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot, and afterwards had a variety of names and headquarters. I ...

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

during the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coupl ...

when the following deed took place for which he was awarded the VC. Hook and five other privates were ordered on the afternoon of 22 January 1879 to protect approximately 30 patients unable to be moved from the temporary hospital at Rorke's Drift station. On 22/23 January 1879 at

Rorke's Drift The Battle of Rorke's Drift (1879), also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

, South Africa, a distant room of the hospital had been held for more than an hour by three privates, and when finally they had no ammunition left, the Zulus burst in and killed one of the men and two patients. One of the privates (

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

), however, succeeded in knocking a hole in the partition and taking the last two patients through into the next ward, where he found Private Hook. "These two men then worked together – one holding the enemy at bayonet point while the other broke through three more partitions – and they were then able to bring eight patients into the inner line of defence." The 1881 census shows Henry Hook V.C. as a servant in the household of George Owen Willis, a doctor in Monmouth, Monmouthshire.

The medal

His Victoria Cross is displayed at the South Wales Borderers Museum, Brecon, Powys, Wales.

In popular culture

A poem describing Hook's part in the battle of Rorke's Drift was written by

William McGonagall William Topaz McGonagall (March 1825 – 29 September 1902) was a Scottish poet of Irish descent. He gained notoriety as an extremely bad poet who exhibited no recognition of, or concern for, his peers' opinions of his work. He wrote about 2 ...

in 1899. In the film '' Zulu'', Hook is depicted as an insubordinate malingerer placed under arrest in the hospital, only to come good during the battle. However,

Saul David Professor Julian Saul David (born 1966) is a British academic military historian and broadcaster. He is best known for his work on the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Anglo-Zulu War, as well as for presenting and appearing in documentaries on ...

writes in his book, ''Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879'', that he was there as the hospital cook, subsequently as part of a small guard detail assigned to protect the patients. Saul David continues that far from the miscreant portrayed, Hook was actually a

teetotaler Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

, Methodist preacher, and model soldier. Further to this, he had been awarded good conduct pay shortly before the battle. His elderly daughters were so offended at the way their father had been depicted in the film that they walked out of the premiere. He was portrayed by English actor

James Booth James Booth (born David Noel Geeves; 19 December 1927 – 11 August 2005) was an English film, stage and television actor and screenwriter. Though considered handsome enough to play leading roles, and versatile enough to play a wide variety ...

S.M. Stirling Stephen Michael Stirling (born September 30, 1953) is a Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author who was born in France. Stirling is well known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and his later time travel/alternate his ...

's '' On the Oceans of Eternity'' fictionalises Hook's exploits. Hook can also be seen in a background scene in the

Alan Moore Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including ''Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', ''The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and ''From Hell' ...

-penned comic-series ''

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' (''LoEG'') is a comic book series (inspired by the 1960 British film ''The League of Gentlemen'') co-created by writer Alan Moore and artist Kevin O'Neill which began in 1999. The series spans four volum ...

'', vol.I, issue 6.

Related detail

In his autobiography, punk singer

Mark E. Smith Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...

claimed that Hook was an ancestor of his father, which led to the Smith family being invited as guests of honour to the Whitefield showing of '' Zulu''.

References

External links

Pte. Henry (Harry) Hook
''(biography, photos, memorial details)''

''(Gloucestershire)''

''(information within Frederick Hitch site)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Hook, Alfred Henry Military personnel from Gloucestershire British recipients of the Victoria Cross South Wales Borderers soldiers 1850 births 1905 deaths Burials in Gloucestershire 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis People from Forest of Dean District Anglo-Zulu War recipients of the Victoria Cross British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War Royal Fusiliers soldiers Employees of the British Museum British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Tuberculosis deaths in England English Methodists