I am interested in what happened to Harry's younger daughters with Ada Taylor

G'day All,

My name is AJ, I'm an Aussie sheila who is a half-cousin, umpteen times removed to
Alfred Henry "Harry" Hook.  There may be a secondary connection through a Wintle
further up the line.  

I am interested in what happened to Harry's younger daughters with Ada Taylor.  I
found them in the Royal Soldier's Daughter's Home in the 1911 Census this last weekend:
Victoria Catherine (VC) and Letitia Jean.

My attention had been drawn to South Africa whilst trying to locate an Australian-born
Buchanan antecedent who was in Pretoria 1898-1903 as a mission worker.

He got struck by lightning whilst walking home in January 1903, his body shipped back home
to Blackwood, Victoria.

I have noticed the references to how ferocious the lightning was from the few personal accounts written by chaps years earlier.  Still reading all the archives to get a sense of the culture that was swirling around my Buchanan kin.

Hope they make a decent remake of the movie "Zulu" that avoids casting Nicholas Cage and Sir Anthony Hopkins and doesn't come out looking like "300" - although Gerard Butler would be scrumptious as John Chard (hormonally speaking).

I digress.

Great forum.  Happy to be here.  
My dad was a Brit - Sheffield born, bred & buttered.
He came to Australia and the natives got him.

Cheers
RainQueen

Welcome to the forum RainQueen.

I can very much recommend a book called "Hook of Rorke's Drift" by Barry C Johnson published in 2004. It gives an extensive family history and there is also a photograph of Catherine and Letitia. There is also a chapter on the Royal Soldiers Daughters Home.

Look forward to hearing more about your connection to Henry Hook.

All the best.

Steve

Hi Steve
Is this the book you mention ' Rorke's Drift And The British Museum ; The Life Of Henry Hook , VC it's by Barry C Johnson ,
so I assume it's the same one .
Cheers 90th

rusteze wrote:

Welcome to the forum RainQueen.

I can very much recommend a book called "Hook of Rorke's Drift" by Barry C Johnson published in 2004. It gives an extensive family history and there is also a photograph of Catherine and Letitia. There is also a chapter on the Royal Soldiers Daughters Home.

Look forward to hearing more about your connection to Henry Hook.

All the best.

Steve

Thanks for that, Steve.  I did manage to see a photo of the girls on Ancestry.com
and found a with information about the R.S.D.H. [Awwww, I'm not allowed to post external links
for 7 days]

Google archhistory + Royal Soldier's etc

Suppose I should adjourn to the Genealogy Forum to skite about my
connection to Harry Hook.    I have popped all his mob on my genealogy website
including the folks his siblings married - can't post the link to that either. 

Harry lost a nephew in the 14-18.  His kid sister's lad.

Still getting up to speed.  Been a long time since I last swung by Rorke's Drift.

Keep your powder dry.

Thank you for that image to Barry Johnson's book, xhosa2000.
Very helpful. I swiped this from a forum on ancestry, it goes back
to 2006. Suppose it is old news?

Hey, I might be late to this party, but I'm bringing more beer


"15th November 2006

Death of member of 1879 Group
It is with great sadness that we hear of the passing of Henry
Bunting, a long standing honourary group member, the grandson of
Henry Hook VC. Henry passed away last Thursday, and he had
been ill for several weeks."

Alfred Henry Hook VC died in 1905 and is buried in his birthplace,
Churcham, Gloucestershire. I had never before heard of a Bunting
connection, Bunting being a Guild ONS registered to my good friend
Michael Bunting and with which Mary Rix, our Guild Marriage Index
coordinator, is also connected as a leading light in the Bunting Society.

I did a bit more legwork at FreeBMD and in the GRO Indexes at
findmypast.com and found that Alfred Henry Hook married at Islington in
1897 to his 2nd wife, Ada Letitia Taylor, and they apparently had a
daughter, Letitia Jean Hook, born at Islington in 1902. She would have
been only 3 when her father died, but she married in 1923 to a John J R
Bunting and their son Henry E R Bunting was born in 1924 - presumably
the man who died only last month and the grandson of Henry Hook VC.

I have passed these details on to Michael, though of course he may have
them already. I am posting this purely to make the point that we should
all look out for data in the most unlikely places, which may relate either
to our own ONS or those of fellow Guild members - in this case it was
because of my watching a film which has been around since 1964.

To give another example, I found 3 Stockdale sisters who were the
longest living UK triplets. Where? In the Guinness Book of Records!

R Stockdill (2534)


Rain Queen

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hook-Rorkes-Drift-Henry-1850-1905/dp/0951711563
About the book
"Henry hook was a working man, born in rural gloucestershire and he became famous after winning the victoria cross at rorke`s drift, he also won an entry in who`s who and was featured in two cigarette card series. He served in all three branches of the land forces of his day....the regular army, the militia in monmouth and the volunteers in london. This is his life story and the book has the following chapters.
A sturdy gloucestershire woodman to 1869 / in the pope`s own 1869 - 1874 / henrietta`s story 1870 - 1877 / south africa....war on the frontier 1878 / south africa....rorke`s drift 1878 - 1879 / south africa....the buffalo border 1879 / the move to london 1880 - 1881 / the V.C. at the museum 1882 - 1892 / military life at the B.M. to 1904 / fame and the reading room 1893 - 1903 / the second mrs meyrick and the second mrs hook 1891 - 1904 / a triumph 1903 - 1905
epilogue.....memorials - the royal soldiers daughters home - champion of birmingham`s underdogs - a reputation restored"

Pte. Henry (Harry) Hook (1373 B Co. 24th. Regiment).

"Born at Churcham in Gloucestershire in 1850.
He first served in the Monmouth Militia and enlisted into the regular army at Monmouth in
March 1877 aged 26. He received a scalp wound from a Zulu assagai at Rorke's Drift,
which, in later years caused him some discomfort. He purchased his discharge from
the regular army in June 1880, but later served 20 years in 1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.

Digest of Citation reads:On 22nd and 23rd of January 1879 at Rorke's Drift, Natal, 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 men, Private J.Williams (Reg No.1313)however succeeded in making a hole in the wall large enough to get through,and taking the last two patients into the next ward, where he found Private Hook. Working together; the two men, one holding the Zulus at a distance with his bayonet, while the other managed to knock through three more partitions; and they were able to bring eight patients into the inner line of defence

After his discharge in 1880, he resided at Sydenham Hill and worked at the British Museum.
He retired in 1904 and returned to live in Gloucestershire. Interestingly, there is some mystery
about his first marriage. His wife thought he had been killed in South Africa and ran off with
someone else. Hook married again in 1897 in Islington.

He died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 12th March 1905 at Osborne Villas, Roseberry Avenue,
Gloucester and is buried at Churcham. He received his VC from Sir Garnet Wolseley,
GOC South Africa at Rorke's Drift on 3 August 1879. (His VC is in the South Wales Borderers Museum Collection).

Buried in St. Andrews Parish churchyard, Churcham, Near Gloucester. Diagonally opposite to
the entrance on the other side of the church.


<><><><><><><><><><

Year: 1850
Month: Sep
Day: 1
Parents_Surname: HOOK
Child_Forenames: Alfred
Fathers_Forenames: Henry
Mothers_Forenames: Ellen
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Birdwood
Occupation: Labourer
Officiating_Minister: Geo.C.Hall Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P83 IN 1/10
Page_Number: 14
Parish_Chapel: Churcham


1851
Henry Hook abt 1829 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Head Churcham, Gloucestershire
Helen Hook abt 1831 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Wife Churcham, Gloucestershire
Alfred Hook abt 1850 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Son Churcham, Gloucestershire


1861
Henry Hoak abt 1832 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Head Churcham, Gloucestershire
Eleanor Hoak abt 1834 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Wife Churcham, Gloucestershire
Alfred Hoak abt 1851 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Son Churcham, Gloucestershire
Ellen Hoak abt 1860 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Daughter Churcham, Gloucestershire
Henry Hoak abt 1857 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Son Churcham, Gloucestershire
James Hoak abt 1854 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Son Churcham, Gloucestershire
Mary Hoak abt 1853 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Daughter Churcham, Gloucestershire

1871 Newent
Alfred Hook 21
Comfort Hook 20 Kilcot
John Jones 50
Ann Jones 48

1881 Glendower St
Henry (V.C.) Hook abt 1854 Churcham, Gloucestershire, England Servant Monmouth, Monmouthshire

1891

Name: Ada Lettia Taylor
Name: Alfred Henry Hook
Year of Registration: 1897
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: Islington
County: Greater London, London, Middlesex
Volume: 1b
Page: 546

1901
Henry Hook abt 1854 Gloucestershire, England Head Islington, London
Ada Hook abt 1864 London, England Wife Islington, London
Catherine Hook abt 1899 London, England Daughter Islington, London"

This bioprofile was prepared a few years back by one of my mob of Hook descendents
in Australia [G.V.C.], with information that was available to him at the time.

It details the common paternal ancestor in the 18th Century as James HOOK.


Alfred (Henry) Hook VC
1850 – 1905

Christened Alfred Hook and born in Birdwood near Churcham in Gloucestershire, Alfred was known variously as Alfred, Alfred Henry, Henry, even Henry Albert Hook during his life.

He would be a half second cousin to the children of James Hook who emigrated to Victoria in 1853. Whilst he is a distant relative to our family, his life has been recorded and his story is interesting and worth recounting.

His father was Henry Hook, his grandfather Richard Hook. Richard was a half-brother to
Daniel Hook [1785-1836]. Daniel is my GGG-grandfather.


Daniel and Richard Hook’s father, James Hook, born 1754 (wife Elizabeth HARPER) is therefore the common link, with the two boys being the offspring of different mothers.

One of Daniel's sons, James Hook (1824-1892) married Anna Hudson (1831-1872) and they
emigrated to Australia on "The Hope" arriving on 18 March 1853. Their children, for the most part, flourished and did very well for themselves. Ballarat region is swarming with Hooks. If you shake hands with one, check to make sure you still have your watch

The Census records were gleaned for this information:

In 1861 Alfred at the age of 11 was working already, as a wood cutter, the same occupation as his father. They would have been working in the area around Churcham in Gloucestershire. [Highnam Woods when they were still woods, methinks]

He married Comfort Jones in Newent in Gloucs in 1870 and in 1871 they were living in Newent, with Comfort’s parents boarding with them.

Presumably they had moved to Monmouthshire in Wales by 1874 where Alfred joined the Royal Monmouth Militia.

In March 1877 he joined the regular army in the 24th Regiment Foot Royal Fusiliers and saw service in South Africa in the Anglo-Zulu War. On 22/23 of January 1879 he was involved in a desperate action at Rourke’s Drift in Natal, subsequently being awarded the Victoria Cross. The story of the action was that the Zulus attacked a temporary hospital at Rourke’s Drift station and in an action protecting patients at the hospital, several soldiers and patients were separated at the far end of the hospital. The fighting continued for over an hour until the soldiers ran out of ammunition and the attackers set fire to the thatch roof of the building. The Zulus were able to overpower the defenders, killing one of the soldiers and several of the patients. The remaining soldier then broke down the partition wall into the next ward where Alfred was stationed and managed to move two patients there. Then with one holding the Zulus at bay with his bayonet, the other progressively broke down three more partition walls until they reached an inner defensive position, in the process managing to save 8 patients.

Alfred received a scalp wound from a spear that dislodged his helmet in the action, and as a result of their actions, both were awarded the Victoria Cross. Both men were privates at that point, and Alfred was later promoted to Corporal.

The action has been recounted in the film “Zulu”, however, as is common in commercial films, fiction has supplanted fact and Alfred is depicted as an unruly drunken Londoner. In fact he was a teetotaller, from Gloucestershire, and shortly before the Rourke’s Drift action had been awarded Good Conduct pay.

In June 1880 Alfred resigned from the regular army, later serving for 20 years in the 1st Volunteer battalion, Royal Fusiliers, attaining the rank of Sergeant-Instructor. His return to civilian life was difficult however, as, basically illiterate with no special skills, he had to rely on goodwill and his merit to find meaningful employment. With his mother and sister in Wales, he was living in Monmouth in 1881 and was a groomsman to George Willis, a GP and surgeon.

He was recorded as Henry Hook V.C. Later that year, Alfred applied for work as a labourer with a government body, and the envelope holding his application in the name Henry Hook, makes interesting reading.

Held by the British Museum, dated 30 Sept 1881, it notes his action at Rourke’s Drift and the award of the V.C., recommendations by the clerk of works, as well as Major Bromhead, the Prince of Wales and Princess Christian. It has then been noted by Lord Chelmsford that “Hook cannot be appointed at present because he is not able to read or write”.

The envelope has then been crossed “Engaged as Labourer Dec 26 1881”. He was employed at the British Museum, initially as an “inside duster”, later being promoted to “hold reader’s umbrellas”. (Lord Chelmsford had been the Commanding Officer of the English forces during the Anglo-Zulu war.)

In the meantime Comfort and their son and two daughters were noted in 1881 and 1891 living with her parents in Newent. Under the misapprehension that Alfred had been killed in South Africa, she remarried in Gloucestershire in 1895. Subsequently in Nov 1896 Alfred petitioned for divorce from Comfort, noting David Meyrick as co-respondent with her.

The divorce was granted in Jan 1897 and in May that year, Alfred married Ada Letitia Taylor, interestingly noting that he was a “bachelor”, and able to sign his name by then.

In 1901 Alfred and Ada were living at 15 Sealy St, Islington, London, with Alfred noted as an attendant at the British Museum.

In 1904 he retired from the Museum due to ill-health and returned to Gloucestershire with his family. On 12 March 1905 at the age of 54, he died from TB at 2 Osborne Villas, Roseberry Ave, Gloucester. He and Ada had two daughters.


For the meantime, this version is standing as a first draft while more information is being collected, that will sort out any inconsistencies. Harry Hook's service in South Africa runs parallel to, and is a prelude, to more directly related, branch of my family that were over there during the time of the Boer Concentration Camps and the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Been a serendipitious overlap of two discrete branches. I might be able to pull a family saga trilogy out of my hat. A bodice-ripper. Rungles in the jumbles and all that. Drink. Bonk. Pass Out.

So that's that....

thank you, goodnight and may your
gawd go with you.

Rain Queen