AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



461 



wo. 51 JOHIV M. HOOKER. 



Among the more prominent bee- 

 keepers in Great Britain is our subject 

 this week. We had the very great pleas- 

 ure of meeting Mr. Hooker a short time 



JOHN M. HOOKER. 



ago, when he was at the World's Fair. 

 He also went to Canada, and visited as 

 many bee-keepers on this side the 

 Atlantic as he was able to reach. He 

 expected to leave for his home in Lon- 

 don, England, ou Oct. 1st, and doubt- 

 less ere this he has safely arrived there, 

 after his round-trip journey of over 

 8,000 miles. 



Several years ago there appeared in 

 the Britisli Bee Journal an excellent 



biographical of Mr. Hooker, the princi- 

 pal portion of which we take pleasure 

 in reproducing for the benefit of our 

 readers, making such changes therein 

 as shall correctly bring it down to date. 

 The following, then, we feel will be 

 read with no little interest, as the dis- 

 tinguished services which Mr. Hooker 

 has rendered the cause of bee-culture in 

 his own land, place him in the very 

 front rank of English apiarists : 



John Marshall Hooker was born at 

 Brenchley, in the county of Kent, on 

 April 26, 1829. He was the youngest 

 son of Stephen Hooker, Esq., late of 

 Broad Oak in that parish, who inherited, 

 and died possessed of, considerable 

 landed property in the counties of Kent 

 and Sussex, which, by his will, he di- 

 rected to be sold and divided among his 

 wife and nine children then living. 



At the age of T years, John M. was 

 sent to a school well known in Kent — 

 " Tudor Hall," Hawkhurst ; when he was 

 12 years old he was removed to Great 

 Ealing School in Middlesex, at that time 

 kept by Dr. BVank Nichols, where he 

 remained until he was between 17 and 

 18 years old. On leaving school he was 

 articled to Wm. Caveler, Esq., an archi- 

 tect well known in the profession by the 

 works he published on Gothic Architec- 

 ture. After this he was for a time in 

 the ofBce of George Smith, Esq., the 

 architect and surveyor to the Mercers' 

 Company. On leaving Mr. Smith, he 

 commenced on his own account, and has 

 ever since carried on his profession of 

 an architect. Mr. Hooker has built 

 several churches, and restored others ; 

 he has built a number of parsonage- 

 houses, schools and mansions ; has laid 

 out the roads and partly covered several 

 estates with houses of a superior class. 



Having been brought up in one of the 

 prettiest rural districts, Mr. Hooker, at 

 an early age, took great interest and 

 pleasure in all the resources of a coun- 

 try life, and occupied his spare time in 

 shooting, hunting, bee-keeping, and 

 farming. His father, who was a very 

 clever and scientific man, was an ad- 

 vanced bee-keeper, and during the sum- 

 mer holidays his son assisted him in his 

 apiary, and accompanied him in his 

 drives over to the apiary of Mr. Golding, 

 of Hunton, in Kent, only a few miles 

 distant ; listened to the bee-talk, and 

 witnessed the manipulation of the bees, 

 which were kept in Huber and Grecian 

 hives. 



Mr. Golding was the author of a book 



