Henry Edward HOOKINS was born on 6 June 1872 at 25 Reverdy Road in Bermondsey.
25 Reverdy Road, Bermondsey
He was the 2nd of 4 children born to Henry Adolphus HOOKINS and his wife Clara Elizabeth (nee HOLLAND).
At the first Census after his birth, in 1881, Henry's home was at 92 Sumner Road in Camberwell where he lived with his parents + 2 siblings + 2 step-uncles. The family name recorded is HOOKENS and Henry Jnr. is identified with his second forename of Edward.
By 1891, still known as Edward, he is with his parents and 3 siblings at 23 Castle Street, Blackthorne Yard, St Martins in the Fields where he is recorded as being a Clerk.
On 24 November 1908 Henry married Grace Elizabeth HALE at St Philips Church in Clerkenwell but, by that time, they had already had 9 children! By the 1901 Census Henry and Grace had already welcomed Arthur Edward in 1896, Walter Ernest in 1898 (although he died 2 years later), and Grace Daisy in 1900 (but she died of TB shortly after the Census was taken). So at that Census they were living in 2 rooms at 80 Brook Street in Lambeth with Arthur and Daisy. Henry is described as a Commercial Clerk and Grace was recorded as his wife even though their marriage was 7 years away at that time.
More births followed with Fred later in 1901, May in 1903, an Unnamed child who was born and died in 1904, Stanley in 1905, Violet in 1906 but who died within a year, Ivy in 1908, Sidney in 1909 and Leslie in 1910. So by the time of the 1911 Census, Grace had given birth to 11 children but only 7 had survived. The remaining family were living at 4 Manson Street on the Old Kent Road. Henry is still a Commercial Clerk although he had been recorded as a Newsagents Clerk in 1908.
Amazingly childbearing continued with the arrival of Rose in 1911, Edith in 1913 and William in 1914. Grace was only 46 when she died in 1921 leaving 10 children between the ages of 7 and 19, although Arthur was to marry just 1 month after his mother's death. Grace died at 11 Otto Street in Kennington of Pulmonary TB.
Henry himself was to pass away 7 years later on 4 September 1928 at Lambeth Hospital at the age of 56. He died of Uraemia and Nephritis which points to kidney problems and he was buried 8 days later in Southwark.
