Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

One of four brothers (Harold, Ernie and Alex) who served in WWII, Private Archibald Henry Hancock (Service No:W86027) served in the ACMF with 5 Battalion (WA) Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) from 7 June 1942 to 15 October 1945.

Born in Donnybrook, Western Australia in 1913, Archie was fifth 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, Wiltshire where they settled and raised their family and Willie was a Milk Purveyor (Vendor). Willia and Alice immigrated with four children in 1911, arriving in Fremantle on board the Ophir and moving to Balingup. Willie worked as a Labourer, and in 1917 he and Alice moved their family to Mallalyup via Balingup - Willie was a Sanitation Contractor. In the early 1930s, as part of the Group Settlement Scheme (Group 13), Willie and Alice settled at Cowaramup in Margaret River, where Willie was a Farmer.

Archie was a Labourer in Mullalyup in 1934 when he married his first wife Violet Lillian Watson (b1914 at Nanga Brook, Western Australia) in Busselton. Archie and Violet lived in the Balingup region - Mullalyup and Kirup - where they raised their family and Archie worked as a Labourer and a Forester with the Forestry Department. Archie was involved in his local community - Member of the Parents and Citizens Association, the Show Society and the Tennis, Rifle and Football Clubs. Archie and Violet divorced in 1943, and Archie worked with the Forestry Department as an Overseer in Willowdale via Waroona and Carinyah via Mundaring. It was in Carinyah that Archie met his second wife, Georgina Joan Simpson (nee Clarke; b1933 in Cheshire, England). Archie worked for the Forest Department until his death in 1972. Georgina died in 2016.