William HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

This is the another picture featuring William HOOKINS much later than on the last blog posting. His wife Sarah is seated beside him and alongside him is Lizzie SMITH (Sarah's maiden name) a niece of William and Sarah. The boy seated playing with his toy boat is said to be Alfred John the youngest of the children of William and Sarah. This suggests that the picture was taken in the late 1870s so William would have been aged just over 50, Sarah being 5 years younger.












This certificate is from the Royal Hospital at Chelsea which indicates that William was no. 9500 in the Chelsea pensioner ranks
as a result of which he was granted a pension of 4d per day. The letter I have a copy of in William's own hand was addressed to the Governor of Portland Prison where William had worked as a guard. In this letter William was asking the Governor to write to the Chelsea Hospital with a character reference and points out that he has a wife and 2 children - the other 2 children had died by this time - and that Sarah has been "for many years afflicted" presumably with some illness. She died in 1891 of apoplexy.

William HOOKINS (Tree 3N)

William HOOKINS was born in 1826. I have a copy of a letter in William's own hand which was sent much later in his life in which he explains a little about his parents. His father William Thomas HOOKINS as a young man had apparently been a valet to Lord Palmerston but William indicates that he never really knew his father. William's mother Mary was brought up in a Foundling Hospital but sadly records of that institution appear to have been destroyed. He indicates however that she was a Lady's Maid to a Lady Wheatley of St James' Palace, Lady Blunt, Mrs Spicer of Esher Park nd Mrs Bosenquet of Broxbourne Park. William attended Westminster National School but it seems that his mother could not maintain him there for too long. In 1840 he obtained employment with a Mr Hinds in Tottenham Court Road who was a maker of Government sealing wax as an errand boy and was therefore able to support himself and also his mother as her health failed until her death in 1844 when William was only 18. The "new" postal system was then introduced which hit his role as an errand boy and so William states that he was "compelled" to join the Army to earn his living.

He became a Bombardier in the Royal Artillery and is pictured during his service in the Crimea. The copy of his discharge shown here indicates that he served for 9 years and 93 days of which 6 years and 8 months were spent abroad. Due to him being no longer fit for service following an injury sustained in the Crimea he was awarded an Army Pension of 7d (7 old pence) per day for 2 years. His character is described as "exemplary". He then joined the Prison Service at Portland where he served for another 23 years.