PEOPLE IN PORTSMOUTH

 

Lives Lived and Lives Lost - Portsmouth and the Great War

ALBERT EDWARD HOOKER
 
One of the criteria for inclusion on the Portsmouth Cenotaph was residency in the town at the outbreak of the Great War. Albert Edward was, according to the 1911 census, living at 25 Lower Derby Road, Stamshaw and his family remained at that address until after the war, yet his name was omitted from the monument.
 
One possible reason for this is that he enlisted before the start of the war and was not therefore at home when the war started, however, another criterion was that his home was in Portsmouth when the war began and even if he had enlisted by then he would still have thought of Stamshaw as his home. The third criterion was that he should be born in Portsmouth and this he could not satisfy as the records show he was born in Walton on Thames in Surrey.
 
It's not known exactly when the Hooker family moved to Portsmouth but they must have done so by 1897 as Albert's brother Henry was born in the town. Indeed Portsmouth seems to have been the family's last port of call as Albert's father Henry snr. died there in 1915 and his mother Emma followed him in 1940. Prior to that the family had known several parts of the country beginning when Henry snr. was born in Elmswell, Suffolk in 1851 and Emma at Colchester in 1861. Their marriage, at Chertsey in 1889, was preceded by the births of their first three children, William and Arthur at Brentwood in 1878 and 1880 and George at Middlesex, in 1883, and followed by the births of the last two boys Albert Edward in 1895 and Henry jnr. in 1897.
 
The frequent changes of address was probably a consequence of Henry snr.'s employment as an engine driver, engine fitter and engineer's storekeeper. None of the five boys followed their father's career choice with only Albert Edward finding a semi skilled job, as a house painter.
 
At the start of the Great War Albert Edward was 19 years old and as suggested above may have already enlisted in the army. This is by no means certain though as had he done so it seems improbable that he would have chosen to join the Warwickshire Regiment whereas if he signed on later he may have had no choice about his posting. The 1st/8th Battalion of the Warwickshires landed at Le Havre on 22nd March 1915 as part of the 48th (South Midland) Division. Once on the Western Front they took part in the Battles of the Somme and the Third Battle of Ypres during which Albert Hooker probably lost his life.
 
FURTHER INFORMATION
 
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) lists Albert Edward Hooker, Private (28496), 1st/8th Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, died on 27/08/1917, age 21. Buried at New Irish Farm Cemetery, Ieper, Belgium, (Grave Ref: XXVI.E.1.). Son of Emma Hooker, of 25, Lower Derby Rd., Stamshaw, Portsmouth.
 
Albert Hooker is not named on the Cenotaph, nor is he listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War', Section X.
 
Tim Backhouse
February 2015