Rorke’s Drift hero’s ‘stolen’ cross was at the cleaners
IT WAS the cruellest of thefts... a missing memorial to a soldier awarded the Victoria Cross for his role in the battle of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu Wars, which was immortalised on the big screen. Parishioners feared a gang had brought in heavy-lifting machinery to haul away the £10,000 marble monument to Private Henry Hook after they turned up for a cup of tea and spotted the huge gap at St Andrew’s Church in Churcham, Gloucs. Police sprang into action – but were left red-faced when it emerged the memorial had simply been taken away for a week’s restoration by Pte Hook’s family. The memorial attracts hundreds of visitors a year, captivated by the story of Pte Hook, B Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment of Foot, who saved eight patients from a hospital which was being overrun by Zulu warriors in 1879 in South Africa. The battle inspired the 1964 film Zulu, which starred Michael Caine, Stanley Baker and James Booth as Pte Hook, who died in 1905 aged 54. Church warden Paul Charter said: “We were still investigating when we learned a relative had arranged for the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association to come and take the memorial away. He hadn’t told anyone. It’s a bit embarrassing.” Inspector Andrew Hodgetts of Forest of Dean police tweeted: “Good news. Hooky’s memorial found and will come back looking as good as new. “Family had removed it under cover of broad daylight in order to give it some TLC.”