Henry Hook (1882-19??)

Post date: Mar 04, 2016 5:47:22 PM

Henry was born in Wateringbury in 1882, the son of Henry and Mary, who lived in Cook's Cottages (4 rooms) in Old Road. Henry senior was an agricultural labourer who became the village sexton and gravedigger. Henry junior had left home by the time of the 1901 census. His mother, Mary, had 9 children in all by 1911 of whom 8 were still alive. In the vicar's list of January 1917 his brothers Robert, William and David were all serving overseas in the army. The school lists show a couple more Hooks (both called Robert) probably from the Hook family of Canon Lane.

Although he is never mentioned in the school log he evidently attended Wateringbury school as he is listed as on the school memorial as serving and returning alive; he was also a member of the Wateringbury Old Boys Association in 1919 although serving far away. in 1895 he won a prize as a private in the Boys Brigade. In 1911 census Henry is listed at a naval establishment at Portsmouth as an Officer's Cook 1st class and still single. His elder brother Robert had served in the Boer war and many of his brothers served in the army during WWI.

Henry's personal navy record is available at the National archives reference ADM/188/540 service number 356632. His service record gives his date of birth as 10th January 1880. He was 5 feet 6 inches tall with light brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He probably enlisted in June 1898 and after a period on shore he served on a number of ships before joining H.M.S. Iron Duke on 6th July 1914 just before the outbreak of war and serving thereon through to January 1920, and probably leaving the service in September 1920.

We can also piece together bits of information from the vicar's reports on men serving. He had evidently married by 1914 and his wife's family were in Belfast. He served on the H.M.S. Iron Duke as a Gunroom cook according to the vicar's list of 1914 and 1915. In March and April 1916 and January 1917 he is still on the list but the vicar has stopped showing the names of the ships the navy men are serving on, probably for security reasons. In December 1914 his letter to the vicar was published in the parish magazine as follows:

"I have read the War numbers of the Parish Magazine you enclosed, and am glad to see so many familiar names in the list of those serving in the Forces. The Grand Fleet is patiently waiting for the German High Sea Fleet to come out of their shell, and I hope that few of them will have the chance of going back. Our modern Nelson will see to that, and all under his command will do their best." (Henry Hook, gunroom cook, H.M.S. Iron Duke).

H.M.S. Iron Duke was a 25,000 tonne dreadnought battleship with a complement of 1,000 men, the flagship of the Grand Fleet under Admiral Jellico, based at Scapa Flow throughout WWI. Thomas Bowles also served on her from March 1914 to August 1915. Wikipedia has a detailed article about the Iron Duke during WW1 but involvement in the Battle of Jutland was clearly a highlight when Iron Duke had closed to effective gunnery range—some 26,000 yards —of the German fleet, and took the dreadnought SMS König under fire. Iron Duke's first salvo fell short, but the next three were on target; the ship's gunner claimed at least six hits on the German battleship. In fact, they had scored seven hits on König and inflicted significant damage. In 1919 and 1920 the Iron Duke was in the Black Sea and Mediterranean, participating in the intervention in the Russian Civil War and also seeing action at Constantinople and Smyrna in Turkey.