Hook left school aged fourteen, with a prize for drawing; he was subsequently mentored by John Constable.  His coastal views of the Cornish coast were purchased by Sir Henry Tate, and his work formed part of the original collection of the Tate Gallery.

Squire Hook is mentioned by Garstin in his Preface to the Whitechapel Exhibition of 1902 as being a notable earlier painter to discover Cornwall as a 'painterly place', before the 1880s had 'opened' its beauties to many artists.