Sonia Hook was born in 1917. She was the eldest daughter of Commander Logan Hook, JP, RN (1888-1976) and Fenella Mabel Wyndham Hook née Jones (1895-1968). Her birth was registered in the 3rd quarter of 1917 in the Farnham registration district, Surrey.
The family emigrated to Kenya where her father was a farmer and hotel & garage proprietor. On 13 April 1929 she arrived in the Port of London aboard the S.S. Modasa of The British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd. line. The ship had departed from Beira, Mozambique, and the manifest shows she was aged 11 years, travelling 1st class. Her address on arrival in England was to be c/o Mrs Horsefield, Sandhurst, Kent. On 17 August 1934 she left Southampton, Hampshire, on board the S.S. Njassa of the Woermann line bound for Mombassa, Kenya. The ship's manifest shows that she was aged 17 years and was travelling tourist class with her mother having given their UK address as Sandhurst, Kent and that Kenya was to be their place of permanent residence.
She gained the rank of Serjeant in the Women's Territorial Service (East Africa), formally of the Women's Transport Service (First Aid Nursing Yeomanry), service number K/113.
On 6 February 1944 she was on board the S.S. Khedive Ismail, a liner that was being used a troopship. It formed part of Convoy KR-8 that sailed from Kilindini Harbour at Mombasa, Kenya to Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The convoy consisted of five troop transports (Khedive Ismail, City of Paris, Varsova, Ekma & Ellenga), escorted by the heavy cruiser HMS Hawkins and the destroyers HMS Petard and HMS Paladin.
In the early afternoon of Saturday 12 February 1944, a Japanese submarine sank the Khedive Ismail with two torpedoes. No fewer than 1,297 people, including 77 women, lost their lives in the two minutes it took for the Khedive Ismail to sink. Only 208 men and 6 women survived. The sinking was the third worst Allied shipping disaster of World War II and the single worst loss of female service personnel in the history of the Commonwealth of Nations. The https://www.royalmarineshistory.com/post/sinking-of-the-troopship-khedive-ismail website gives more details of the action.
She died, aged 27 years. As she has no known grave she is commemorated on Column 75 of the East Africa Memorial Kenya in the Nairobi War Cemetery, Ngong Road, Nairobi, Kenya, and on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
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