Harry Robert George Hooker

Harry Robert George Hooker was born in Hambledon about 1884–1885, the son of a village family whose lives were closely tied to the parish. Unlike many men commemorated on the memorial, his military career began long before the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted in the regular army around the turn of the century and made soldiering his profession, serving with the Hampshire Regiment across the overseas garrisons of the British Empire.

By 1911 he was already a sergeant serving abroad with the 2nd Battalion Hampshire Regiment in stations including South Africa and Mauritius. His ability and experience led to steady promotion and by 1912, while stationed at Aldershot, he had reached the senior non commissioned rank of Colour Sergeant. This position carried major responsibility, involving discipline, administration and training within a company, and was normally held only by trusted long service soldiers.

Only weeks after the outbreak of war, on 23rd September 1914, Hooker was posted to West Africa and attached to the 2nd Nigeria Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force. These colonial units were composed largely of African soldiers led and trained by British officers and senior NCOs drawn from regular regiments. Men like Hooker were sent out as instructors and leaders, their experience considered essential in preparing the battalions for active service.

The campaign he entered was very different from the trench warfare developing in France. British and colonial forces advanced into the German colony of Kamerun through dense bush and river country where climate and disease were as dangerous as combat. Operations were slow, exhausting and often fought in extreme heat and humidity far from established supply lines.

Colour Sergeant Hooker died on Wednesday 3rd February 1915 during these early operations, only a few months after arriving in theatre. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Lokoja Memorial in Nigeria, which records members of the Nigeria Regiment who died in the campaign.
His loss was followed later the same year by the death of his older brother, Charles Richard Hooker, who was killed at Gallipoli in August 1915. The family therefore lost two sons in separate theatres of the same war within six months, one in the tropical fighting of West Africa and the other in the Mediterranean campaign. Harry’s service represents the professional regular soldiers of the pre war army whose war began immediately and far from home, in distant parts of the Empire seldom associated with the Great War today.