| VICTORIA CROSS & SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL | | | | available for all ranks, to cover all actions since the |
| 1877-8-9 | | | | outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854. |
| HOOK, Alfred Henry. (reg.No.592). | | | | Ribbon: Crimson |
| Private. 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment. (Later South | | | | Description: A cross pattee. On the observe a lion |
| Wales Borderers) | | | | statant gardant on the royal crown, with the words |
| London Gazetted on 2nd May 1879. | | | | FOR VALOUR on a semi-circular scroll. The Cross is |
| Digest of Citation reads: | | | | suspended by a ring from a seriffed 'V' attached to a |
| On 22nd and 23rd of January 1879 at Rorke's Drift, | | | | suspension bar decorated with laurel leaves. |
| Natal, South Africa, a distant room of the hospital | | | | SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL with 1877-8-9 clasp |
| had been held for more than an hour by three | | | | The campaign began in 1877 and culminated in the |
| privates, and when finally they had no ammunition | | | | showdown between the Zulus and the British when |
| left the Zulus burst in and killed one of the men and | | | | Lord Chelmsford's column was annihilated at |
| two patients. One of the men, Private J.Williams (Reg | | | | Isandhlwana. When 3,000 Zulus advanced on Rorke's |
| No.1313)however succeeded in making a hole in the | | | | Drift, however, they were checked with heavy |
| wall large enough to get through,and taking the last | | | | losses by a tiny garrison of 139 men. The campaign |
| two patients into the next ward, where he found | | | | concluded with defeat of Cetshwayo's warriors at |
| Private Hook. Working together; the two men, one | | | | Ulundi. |
| holding the Zulus at a distance with his bayonet, while | | | | Ribbon: Gold with broad and narrow deep blue stripes |
| the other managed to knock through three more | | | | towards each end. |
| partitions; and they were able to bring eight patients | | | | Description: The observe has the Wyon profile of |
| into the inner line of defence. | | | | Queen Victoria and on the reverse, an African lion |
| Additional information: No. 1373 Private Alfred H. Hook | | | | crouching in submission beside a protea shrub with a |
| was born at Churcham in Gloucestireshire on the 6th | | | | Zulu shield and four crossed assegais in the exergue. |
| August 1850. He served with the Monmouth Militia, | | | | HOOK, Alfred Henry. (reg.No.592). |
| for five years, before joining the 24th Regiment. He | | | | Private. 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment. (Later South |
| saw service in the Kaffir War of 1877-8 and also | | | | Wales Borderers) |
| served in the Zulu War 1879 where he won the | | | | London Gazetted on 2nd May 1879. |
| Victoria Cross at Rorke's Drift. He later served as a | | | | Born on 6th August 1850 |
| Sergeant in the 1st Volunteer Battalion of the Royal | | | | Died on 12th March 1905 from pulmonary tuberculosis |
| Fusiliers. He was also on the staff at the British | | | | at Osborne Villas, Roseberry Ave.Gloucester. |
| Museum. | | | | His grave is in St. Andrew's Church Yard, Churcham, |
| His first wife believing he had been killed in South | | | | Gloucestershire. |
| Africa went of with another man. He remarried in | | | | His gravestone is a Cross mounted on a plinth |
| 1897 at Islington, London. | | | | surmounted with a laurel wreath, in the centre of |
| Alfred Henry "Harry" Hook, VC (6 August 1850 - 12 | | | | which is engraved, the Victoria Cross. |
| March 1905). He was awarded the Victoria Cross for | | | | Memorials on grave at St Andrews Church, |
| his role in the defence of Rorke's Drift in 1879. | | | | Churcham, Gloucestershire and the Havard Chapel, |
| VICTORIA CROSS | | | | Brecon Cathedral, Wales. |
| Introduced as the premier award for gallantry, | | | | |