Further Information
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.
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 SWB Museum Collection).
Further Information
supplied by the South
Wales Borderers Museum, Brecon.
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