HANDCOCK, Richard Merdic Row
| Service Number: | 2634 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 July 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Pioneer Battalion |
| Born: | Myrrhee, Victoria, January 1898 |
| Home Town: | Myrrhee, Wangaratta, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Myrrhee State School |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Memorials: | Myrrhee HB1, Myrrhee State School Pictorial HB, Oxley State School Great War Roll of Honour, Oxley War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Jul 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2634, 2nd Pioneer Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 2634, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Karroo embarkation_ship_number: A10 public_note: '' | |
| 18 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 2634, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Karroo, Melbourne | |
| 12 Aug 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 2nd Pioneer Battalion, "The Last Hundred Days", "gas burns" Note also gassed on 27/7/1918 and 28/7/1918 | |
| 23 Jan 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2634, 2nd Pioneer Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
The ‘Aggressive’ Handcocks from Myrrhee
Richard Merdic Row Handcock was the youngest of eight brothers to sign up from the family of Charles and Harriett Handcock, from the Upper Fifteen Mile Creek area of Myrrhee in North East Victoria. It is said that the Handcock family had the world record for number of sons enlisting for WWI from any one family. Of the brothers Albert John was the only member to be killed in action (Gallipoli, May 1915) while Charles Handcock was the other brother from the eight who did not make it home to Australia, dying of broncho pneumonia that followed on from influenza in November 1918. The other six brothers survived WWI, although Reginald had his right leg amputated below the knee due to a gunshot wound during Third Ypres otherwise shortened to just Passchendaele (around Zonnebeke?). He was earlier wounded at Pozieres in August 1916 (to the ankle) but recovered to rejoin his battalion. In an up-beat letter from England after the amputation he wrote that it was amusing to see the other fellows trying to use their artificial legs and that he was keen to have a go himself. He also has one of his arms paralysed.
Then as now the Handcock's are a well regarded and respected family of hop farmers whose Upper Fifteen Mile Creek hop gardens have seen continual production since the 1890's. That the family hop growing enterprise survived the boom – bust (mainly bust) hop growing profitability cycle of the 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s and 2000’s, when most independent growers went out of business, is testament to the family’s resilience and hardiness of the family.
“The Handcock's must be aggressive, six of them going!” (Capt Gerald Evans MC, 8th Bn, Myrrhee resident, letter to his mother, 11/6/1916)
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