{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name=Alfred Henry Hook |honorific_suffix= |birth_date= {{birth date|df=y|1850|8|6}} |death_date= {{death date and age|df=y|1905|3|12|1850|8|6}} |birth_place=[[Churcham]], [[Gloucestershire]] |death_place=[[Gloucester]], Gloucestershire |burial_place=St Andrew's churchyard, Churcham |burial_coordinates = {{coord|51|51|42.2|N|2|20|15.1|W|region:GB|display=inline}} |image= Photo_of_Albert_Henry_Hook_VC.jpg |image_size= 240 |caption= |nickname= |allegiance={{flag|United Kingdom}}/[[British Empire]] |branch={{army|United Kingdom}} |service_years=1877–1904 |rank=[[Sergeant]] |commands= |unit= {{plainlist| *Monmouth Militia *[[24th Regiment of Foot]] *[[Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment)|Royal Fusiliers]] }} |battles= {{plainlist| *[[Xhosa Wars#Ninth war (1877–1879)|9th Xhosa War]] *[[Anglo–Zulu War]] *[[Rorke's Drift]] }} |awards= [[Victoria Cross]] |relations= |other_work= }} '''Alfred Henry "Harry" Hook''' [[Victoria Cross|VC]] (6 August 1850 – 12 March 1905) was an English recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest and most prestigious award for valour in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces, for his actions at the [[Battle of Rorke's Drift]].
==Early life== [[File:Grave of Alfred Hook - geograph.org.uk - 1150946.jpg|thumb|Henry Hook's grave, Churcham]] Born in [[Churcham]], [[Gloucestershire]], 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 [[Xhosa Wars#9th Xhosa War.2C 1877-1879|9th Xhosa War]] in 1877.
==Rorke's Drift== Alfred Henry Hook was 28 years old, and a [[private (rank)|Private]] in B Company of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot (later [[The South Wales Borderers]]), [[British Army]] during the [[Anglo-Zulu War]] 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]], [[Colony of Natal|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 privates ([[John Williams (VC)|John Williams]]), 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."<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24717|page=3178|date=2 May 1879}}</ref> He received a scalp injury during the battle of Rorke's Drift.{{citation needed|date=January 2026}}
===The medal=== He received his VC from [[Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley|Sir Garnet Wolseley]], GOC South Africa at Rorke's Drift on 3 August 1879. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the [[South Wales Borderers|South Wales Borderers Museum]], Brecon, Powys, Wales.
==Later life== He was discharged (by purchase) from the regular army 17 months later on 25 June 1880. <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fold3.com/search?docQuery=%28filters:!%28%28type:place,values:!%28%28label:United+Kingdom,value:rel.62149%29%29%29,%28type:general.title.id,values:!%28%28label:%27UK,+Royal+Hospital+Chelsea+Pensioner+Admission+and+Discharge+Records%27,value:%27967%27%29%29%29%29,keywords:%27Hook,1373%27%29 |url-access=subscription |title=Fold3 Records |via=Fold3® by Ancestry |quote=Search on "Hook 1373" within UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admission and Discharge Records |access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref>
The 1881 census shows Henry Hook V.C. as a servant in the household of George Owen Willis, a doctor in Monmouth, Monmouthshire.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/8059/?name=Henry_Hook&birth=1854_gloucestershire-england-united+kingdom_5265 |url-access=subscription |title=1881 Wales Census |via=Ancestry |quote=Search where surname equals "Hook" and birth place equals "Churcham, Gloucestershire" |access-date=15 April 2024}}</ref>
He later served 20 years in [[1st (City of London) Battalion, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)#Volunteer Force|1st Volunteer Battalion, Royal Fusiliers]], its drill hall located in [[Bloomsbury]], reaching the rank of sergeant-instructor. After his 1880 discharge he was found the position of inside duster at the [[British Museum]] thanks to the intervention of [[Gonville Bromhead]], [[Lord Chelmsford]] and the [[Prince of Wales]]. He was subsequently promoted to take charge of readers' umbrellas, before resigning due to ill health in 1904.<ref>''The Story of the British Museum'' by Marjorie Caygill, British Museum Press, 2nd edition 1992, p44</ref> During this period he lived at [[Sydenham Hill]]. He died of [[pulmonary tuberculosis]] on 12 March 1905 at Osborne Villas, Roseberry Avenue, Gloucester and is buried in St Andrew's churchyard, Churcham.
==Legacy== ===In media=== A poem describing Hook's part in the battle of Rorke's Drift was written by [[William McGonagall]] in 1899.<ref>{{cite web|last1=McGonagall|first1=William|title=The Hero of Rorkes Drift|url=https://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/the-hero-of-rorkes-drift|website=McGonagall Online|date=1899}}</ref>
A fictional version of Hook was portrayed by English actor [[James Booth]] in the 1964 film ''[[Zulu (1964 film)|Zulu]]'', in which Hook is depicted as an insubordinate malingerer placed under arrest in the hospital, though he redeems himself and proves himself to be an excellent soldier during the battle. [[Saul David]] writes in his book, ''Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879'',<ref>{{Citation|last=David|first=Saul|title=Zulu: The Heroism and Tragedy of the Zulu War of 1879|publisher=[[The Penguin Group|Penguin]]|year=2004|isbn=978-0-670-91474-6}}</ref> that Hook was there as the hospital cook, subsequently as part of a small guard detail assigned to protect the patients. Saul David notes that far from the miscreant portrayed, Hook was actually a [[teetotaler]], Methodist preacher, and model soldier. Further to this, he had been awarded good conduct pay shortly before the battle{{Citation needed|date=March 2013}}. Hook's elderly daughters were so reportedly offended at the fictional portrayal of their father that they walked out of the premiere.<ref>{{cite book | last=von Tunzelmann | first=A. | title=Reel History: The World According to the Movies | publisher=Atlantic Books | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-78239-647-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M5rlCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT131 | page=131}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-02-11 |title=Reel history {{!}} Zulu: Michael Caine loses the plot, but wins the battle |url=http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/feb/11/reel-history-zulu-michael-caine |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=the Guardian |language=en}}</ref> A campaign was organized by family members and historians to have Hook's documented historical reputation restored.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/2563377/Battle-to-restore-Zulu-hero-Henry-Hooks-reputation.html |title=Battle to restore 'Zulu' hero Henry Hook's reputation |first=Jon |last=Swaine |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=15 August 2008}}</ref> In his autobiography, punk singer [[Mark E. Smith]] 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 (1964 film)|Zulu]]''.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Smith|first1=Mark E.|last2=Collings|first2=Austin|title=Renegade – The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith|publisher=Viking (Penguin)|year=2008|isbn=978-0-670-91674-0|page=12}}</ref>
Hook was played by Craig Appleton in a 1994 documentary on the battle of Rorke's Drift.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPmfQRYImYA YouTube]. Retrieved 20 January 2026.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * {{Cite book |last=Brazier |first=Kevin |title=Victoria Crosses of the Zulu and Boer Wars |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-39-909913-4}}
==External links== * [https://www.rorkesdriftvc.com/vc/hook.htm Pte. Henry (Harry) Hook] ''(biography, photos, memorial details)'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070822214645/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/gloucest.htm Location of grave and VC medal] ''(Gloucestershire)'' * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041108202128/http://freespace.virgin.net/sean.farrell/index.htm Rorke's Drift] ''(information within Frederick Hitch site)''
{{Royal Welsh}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hook, Alfred Henry}} [[Category:1850 births]] [[Category:1905 deaths]] [[Category:Military personnel from Gloucestershire]] [[Category:British recipients of the Victoria Cross]] [[Category:South Wales Borderers soldiers]] [[Category:Burials in Gloucestershire]] [[Category:20th-century deaths from tuberculosis]] [[Category:People from Forest of Dean District]] [[Category:Anglo-Zulu War recipients of the Victoria Cross]] [[Category:British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War]] [[Category:Royal Fusiliers soldiers]] [[Category:Employees of the British Museum]] [[Category:British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross]] [[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in England]] [[Category:English Methodists]] [[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]]