Commander Henry Hugh Gordon Dacre Stoker, DSO (2 February 1885 â€" 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.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.
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.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.
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