Henry Hugh Gordon Stoker

Commander Henry Hugh Gordon Dacre Stoker, DSO (2 February 1885 – 2 February 1966), commonly credited in films as H. G. Stoker or Dacre Stoker, was a Royal Navy officer of the First and Second World Wars, and a stage and screen actor. He was also a sportsman, active in polo, croquet, hurling and tennis, competing at Wimbledon and becoming the croquet champion of Ireland in 1962, aged 77. He was a cousin to the author Bram Stoker.

Henry Stoker
Born(1885-02-01)1 February 1885
Dublin, Ireland
Died2 February 1966(1966-02-02) (aged 81)
London, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Navy
Years of service1900–20
1939–45
RankCommander
Commands heldHMS Minos (c. 1940–42)
HMS K9 (1919–20)
HMAS AE2 (1914–15)
HMS B8 (1911–13)
HMS B5 (1910–11)
HMS A10 (1909–10)
Battles/warsFirst World War
Second World War
AwardsDistinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches
RelationsBram Stoker (cousin)
Other workActor
Theatre director

Life

Stoker's naval career began in 1900 with training aboard HMS Britannia. He studied at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and, in July 1904, was promoted to sub-lieutenant. He volunteered for the Royal Navy Submarine Service. Aged 23 he was promoted to lieutenant, and his first submarine command. Later he was given responsibility to establish a submarine station on Gibraltar.

He served in the First World War as captain of the Australian Submarine AE2, which in 1915 was the first submarine to penetrate the mined narrows of the Dardanelles and thus to enter the Sea of Marmara. After a series of naval engagements there, AE2 was attacked by the Ottoman torpedo boat Sultanhisar. The submarine was scuttled and the crew captured, with Stoker using his acting talents to entertain fellow prisoners and to attempt to escape, unsuccessfully. Leaving the navy in 1920 to act, he was recalled to active service at the outbreak of the Second World War. In 1945 he again left the navy to act.

Partial filmography

Further reading
  • Stoker, Commander H.G. (1925). Straws in the Wind. Herbert Jenkins.
  • Brenchley, Fred; Brenchley, Elizabeth (2001). Stoker's Submarine. Pymble, New South Wales: Harper Collins. ISBN 9780732267032.
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