3/1st Battalion, Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
Henry Harold Crook was born in Cheltenham on 8 February 1890. He was the son of John Tom Crook (1866-1925), a seedsman at a nursery and his wife Elizabeth Duggan (née Clee: 1865-1936). According to the 1911 census the couple had four children, one of whom had died. Henry’s siblings were Evelyn Agnes (born 1893) and Horace William (born 1898). There was also an adopted brother, Hubert John Williams (born 1905). At the time of the census the family lived at 3 Theresa Street, Gloucester.
Between leaving school and enlisting in the Army Henry was employed by the Great Western Railway. According to the UK Railway Employment Records 1853-1956 (made available via ncestry) in 1908 he was a porter and assistant checker at Abertillery.
It is possible that he left the railway to join the Gloucestershire Constabulary. The report of his funeral in the Gloucester Journal of 22 January 1916 states that he had two years previous resigned from the Gloucestershire Police Force, having served as a constable at Dymock and Gloucester.
On 9 June 1914 he married Edith Alice Maude Aldridge (1891-1986), a domestic servant and the couple had one child (Harold Henry) born exactly one month later. The family lived at Mill Cottage, Over, Gloucester. Part of an Army Pension Record has survived for Henry. This confirms that he enlisted in Gloucester on 10 May 1915, into the Territorial Force, for four years. He was posted to 3/1st Gloucestershire Yeomanry (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars), with the number 2943. The 3/1st Gloucestershire Yeomanry was formed in 1915 and in the summer of that year was affiliated to a reserve casualty regiment at Tidworth Camp, Wiltshire.
On 23 December 1915 Henry was appointed Lance Corporal and according to the Gloucester Journal came home on leave for Christmas, when he was apparently in good health. After returning to Tidworth he fell ill and according to the Pension Record was admitted to the military hospital on 3 January 1916, complaining of stomach pains. He was given various treatments and appeared to improve until he relapsed on the 14th. He was examined and what was believed to be an extended intestinal tumour could be felt. He was operated on without delay and extensive damage discovered. It was clear that nothing could be done for him and he died at 3.30am on 17 January 1916, aged 25. The funeral report states that he died of appendicitis but a recently released Pension Record Card records that he died from inflammation of the stomach and an intestinal obstruction, which is in line with the detailed medical report contained in his Army Pension Record.
Lance Corporal Crook’s body was conveyed from Tidworth by train to Gloucester’s Midland Station on 21 January where it was met by a contingent of Hussars from Longford House, who escorted the funeral cortege to Highnam (Holy Innocents) Church. After the funeral he was buried in the churchyard, where a standard CWGC headstone marks his grave. His family attended the funeral, including his father who was serving with the Royal Engineers.
He is commemorated on the Gloucester War Memorial and his name was included on the Highnam parish war memorial tablet inside the church, installed in 1921.
Researched by Graham Adams 25 March 2020