Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Driver Harold William Hancock (Service No:11968) enlisted in the AIF on 2 October 1915, and was a Gunner attached to 1st Divisional Ammunition Column on 28 January 1916 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne for Alexandria on board HMAT A32 Themistocles. Private Hancock was attached to 13th Field Artillery Brigade on 16 June 1916 when he embarked from Alexandria for Marseilles. Private Hancock served in France with 13th Field Artillery Brigade - mustered as a Gunner and re mustered as Driver, and on 14 January 1919 embarked from England for Fremantle on board the City of York. Driver Hancock was attached to 13th Field Artillery Brigade at Discharge on 14 April 1919. In WWII, Corporal Hancock (Service No:V19226; Australian Army Pay Corps; 1941 - 1944) was the eldest of four brothers (Ernie, Alex and Archie) serving in the Army. Corporal Hancock's two sons - Billy and Ivor - also served in WWII.

Harold was born in Wiltshire, England in 1900, second of seven children of William (Willie) Hancock (b1872 in Wiltshire, England) and Alice Jane Carter (b1878 in Wiltshire, England). Willie and Alice married in 1896 in Swindon, where they settled and raised their family and Willie was a Milk Purveyor (Vendor). In 1911 Willie and Alice immigrated with four children, arriving in Fremantle on board the Ophir. The family moved to Balingup where, in 1912, Willie was a Labourer. By 1917 the family had settled in Mallalyup via Balingup, where Willie worked as a Sanitation Contractor. In the 1930s, as part of the Group Settlement Scheme (Group 13), Willie became a Farmer in Cowarumup in the Margaret River Region.

Harold was working in Mallalyup as a Sleeper Hewer in 1915 when he enlisted in the AIF. Following his Discharge, he worked in Greenbushes, Western Australia as a Telegraph Messenger (PMGs Department) before moving to Melbourne where, in 1920 he married his first wife Myrtle Irene Butt (b1899 in Melbourne, Victoria). Harold and Myrtle lived in Melbourne and the Corangamite Region (Mortlake and Pura Pura), where they raised their family and Harold was a Railways Employee (Shunter and Railway Repairer). By the late 1930s Harold and Myrtle had returned to Melbourne, where Myrtle died in 1938. Harold remarried in 1939 to Renie May Johnson (b1906 at Swan Marsh via Colac, Victoria). He and Renie settled in Melbourne, where Harold was a Clerk with the Railways in 1941 when he enlisted in the ACMF. Post War, Harold worked for the Railways and then as a Watchman until his death in 1969. Renie died in 1980.