Contributed by Ron Inglis, October 2021:
Alexander Hood’s parents, Robert Whitelaw Hood and Agnes Armour Hood, migrated to Australia in the 1880s. They had 12 children (three dying in infancy or childhood). Alexander was their first child, born in Scotland in 1873. Colin Ferguson Hood was their ninth child, born at Joadji Creek, NSW, in 1892. In 1915, the family were living at 91 Alice Street, Auburn. Both Alexander and Colin died in the Great War. They are one of seven pairs of brothers listed on the Auburn War Memorial.
Alexander Hood, a contractor, married Edith Amy Willson in 1900 and the couple had eight children. In 1913, they moved into the family home they had built at 109 Rochester Street, Homebush. In March 1916, Hood enlisted at Bathurst, aged 42.
Promoted to Sergeant, he embarked on the Warilda in May 1916, arriving in Plymouth, United Kingdom, on 18 July 1916. Crossing to France, Hood was taken on strength of the Australian Tunnelling Corps on 29 September 1916. He survived on the Western Front for over a year before being killed in action in Belgium during the Passchendaele offensive in October 1917.
Hood was buried in the Menin Road South Military Cemetery in the town of Ieper (Ypres), Belgium. As well as a pension for his widow, his first child was granted a pension of one pound per fortnight, the second child 15 shillings per fortnight and the remaining children 10 shillings each per fortnight.
See Family notices: The Sydney Morning Herald, Mon. 19 November 1917, p6.
The name of Hood A was a late addition to the Auburn War Memorial, added to the memorial after unveiling day, 30 April 1922. His name also appears on the Strathfield War Memorial (unveiled 1925), now located outside the Strathfield Council Chambers in Homebush Road, Strathfield. It is possible Hood’s name was put forward to the Auburn memorial committee by his parents and to the Strathfield memorial committee by his wife.
Two of Alexander and Edith's children died in the Second World War: Robert in 1943 on the Burma Railway and Dugald in 1945 in New Guinea.
Alexander Hood is honoured on the following memorials in Australia:
- Auburn War Memorial
- Strathfield First and Second World War Memorials
- Roll of Honour Australian War Memorial Canberra
His decorations:
- British War Medal
- 1914-20 Victory Medal
