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World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Cpl. W. Hancock
British Army North Staffordshire Regiment
from:
I have in my possession a WW1 medal "THE GREAT WAR FOR CIVILISATION 1914-1919", around the side of the medal are the words, "4638 CPL W HANCOCK N STAFF R. the medal has no ribbon or clasp. I used to work in construction, rebuilding military barracks so I may well have found it then. I also used to live in Kirton in Lindsey, North Lincolshire.
I cannot recall how it came into my possession but I would like it to be reunited with the family of the person in question. If any of this information helps anyone out there, please contact me. Thank you for your time and trouble, believe me I've tried all sorts to reunite this medal with its rightful owners.
Pte. William Carter Hancock
British Army 1st/7th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
from:South Shields
(d.29th May 1915)
William Hancock fought in WW1 and was my second great-uncle. Enlisting in South Shields, he was part of the Durham Light Infantry, 1st/7th Battalion. He died of wounds on 29th of May 1915 at Rawalpindi British General Hospital. This is the only information I have so far, and if anyone knows anything else I would be very grateful to receive more information.
Wing Cmdr. Mortimer Nugent "Hank" Hancocks MiD.
Royal Flying Corps
from:Birmingham
My Father, Mortimer Hancocks, flew Sopwith Camels in WW1, ending as a Flight Lieutenant, promoted to Squadron Leader, then Wing Commander.
He was sent to Canada to help with training pilots for WW2. My Mother, Ida Mary Hancocks, later joined him there. I have at least four photograph albums of his journey across Canada from east to west (Weyburn) I know he had four medals and a Mention in Despatches but I do not know what that was for. I just have the certificate signed by Winston Churchill. I would like to find out more of his time there, warts and all. Dad died 1968
L/Cpl. William Thomas Hancocks
British Army 16th Battalion Machine Gun Corps
from:85 Jodrell Street, Nuneaton
(d.21st March 1918)
In Memory of Lance Corporal William Thomas Hancocks,16th Battalion, Machine Gun Corps, previously Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Killed in action WW1 (1914-18) Battlefields of the Somme on 21st March 1918, Aged 20. William Hancocks joined the Army at 16 years of age and fought bravely from the outset of WW1 in 1914 until he was killed in action a few months before WW1 ended.
A letter from the Battlefield in the Somme (France) dated 18th April 1918 written by Captain W.T. Hale to Joseph Hancocks (William's father) reads:
18th of April 1918
Dear Mr. Hancocks,
I am writing to tell you about your son Lance Corporal Hancocks. It is a story that has touched us all, and I feel proud to think I had the privilege of having your son in my Company.
During enemy attack, by skilfully handling his gun, Lance Corporal Hancocks inflicted very heavy casualties on the German troops and continued to fire his weapon to the last. By his magnificent behaviour he saved several of his comrade's lives, that is those who could rally together while the enemy was being repelled by your son.
I ask you to accept the deepest sympathy of all those who knew him. His fine example has inspired us all to further efforts.
Believe me, Yours truly
Signed W.T. Hale Captain
Pte Charles Hancox
British Army 7th Trench Mortar Battery
Pte. Edward Hancox
British Army 11th Btn. Royal Warwickshire Regiment
from:Lower Tysoe, Warwicks
(d.9th May 1917)
Pte. James George Handford
British Army 1st Btn. Grenadier Guards
from:19 Peel Street, Derby
(d.20th Dec 1916)
James Handford was my father's uncle, son of James and Sarah Handford of 19 Peel Street Derby. He was one of five children and was their only son. James worked at the Derby railway works as a spring maker's assistant, and in his spare time played football for a local team and enjoyed fishing. He volunteered in December 1915 aged 25, and, following in the footsteps of his great grandfather, joined the Grenadier Guards. He went to Caterham for training in January 1916 and was sent to France at the end of August the same year.
He died of wounds on 20th December 1916. There are no details in his service record of the nature of the injuries, but a friend of the family who was serving alongside him and saw him in the field hospital told the family that his spine was injured and it's thought that he would probably have been paralysed had he survived. His mother (my great grandmother) never got over his death and wore black from then on. My great grandfather who had been a devout church-goer and lay reader, completely lost his faith.
James' name appears on the large War Memorial near the railway station in Derby which commemorates railway staff who lost their lives. He is buried in Grove Town Cemetery near the French town of Meaulte. His sacrifice has never been forgotten by his family.
Pte. John William Handley
British Army 1/7th Btn., A Coy. Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Sheffield
(d.15th Sep 1916)
John Handley was my great grandfather, who was born on 28th February 1893. He married Amy Hill in 1912. My grandad was only a tiny baby when John was killed in the war, so he never knew his dad. John served with A company, 1/7th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers service Number 4491. He died on 15th September 1916 age 23. I am only just finding all this out for myself, so don't have any other information. He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial.
Sgt. John Dilke Handley
Australian Imperial Forces 2nd Light Horse Regiment
from:Brisbane, Queensland
Dilke Handley served with the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, 12th Reinforcements.
L/Cpl Thomas Frederick Handley
British Army 8th Btn. South Lancashire Regiment
from:Gilfach Goch
(d.11th October 1916)
Company Sjt Mjr. Hands
Army 2/9th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
Pte Albert Victor Hands
British Army 10th Battalion West Riding Regiment (Duke of Wellingtons)
from:Haworth, West Yorkshire
(d.3rd October 1916)
Pte. Charles Eugene Hands
British Army 7th Btn. Lancashire Fusiliers
from:Salford, Lancs
My father’s brother, Willie, had enlisted in the Army at the outbreak of the First World War in l914, when he was 18. Within a year he would be killed. (he is buried at Bailleul). It is significant that my father, Charles Hands, only once in his life ever mentioned to me his experiences in the war, possibly because, coming as he did from a loving, united and peaceful family, these must have had a devastating effect on him and were too painful to recall.
The minimum age for joining the armed forces was 18 so that when, at the Cross Lane, Salford Recruiting Agency, the Recruiting Officer learned that he was only 16 he told my father to walk once round his desk. “Now how old are you?”, he asked. “19”, replied my father. “Very good,” said the officer, “sign here”. It was May 1915 and my father joined the 7th Lancashire Fusiliers. He was to remain in England, for at least some of the time on coastal duty in Scarborough, until March 1918 when he embarked for Ypres where his regiment was to meet up with another - the 8th Lancs. Fusiliers?..
Coming to a fork in the road, my father was sent one way, while a comrade was sent another, to find the Company in question. My father was successful in meeting up with the company and returned to his own with its commanding officer. To his horror he found that his own company had been attacked and wiped out. The scene that met his eyes must have been imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life: men and horses, dead or dying, were strewn everywhere along the road and in the ditches. The noise was hellish. I understood that none had survived.
Shortly after this, as they were trying to take a hill, the second company was surrounded by Germans. “Tommy”, they shouted, “drop your weapons, you are surrounded”. “I shall always be grateful to those Germans”, said my father, “they could have shot us”. As it was, they probably saved his life because he was transported to Kassel and put into a POW camp where he spent the next seven months, up to the end of the war. Army Form W. 3038A reporting my father missing was sent to his sister Madaleine on 5 July 1918.
It was in Kassel that my father lost his fussiness over food. Hunger was extreme both inside and outside the camp – the Germans were starving, too, and German children came to the wire fences to beg for food. There were occasional food parcels distributed by the international charities, also containing cigarettes and gloves and socks hand-knitted by wives, mothers and sisters back in England. The prisoners would swap and barter these precious offerings. My father was so hungry on one occasion that he offered to pay a comrade 25 shillings in War Bonds - to be delivered after the war - for eight biscuits! Twenty-five shillings was more than a working-man’s weekly wage in those days. “How do I know I’ll ever see the money?” the chap asked. “You have my promise”, said my father. True to his word and much to his mother’s annoyance, my father sent the War bonds off to his comrade as soon as he got back home after the war. “After all”, he reasoned, “the chap trusted me and those eight biscuits at the time represented a banquet”.
Sgt Henry Hands
British Army Royal Warwickshire Regiment Machine Gun Corps
from:Birmingham
Henry Hands was born 1893 enlisted in the army at age 15 in 1908, he was serving in Malta when the Great War broke out. He fought with the regiment until he was wounded at the battle of the Somme 1916 - shrapnel wound to the mouth and jaw. He recuperated supplied with false teeth (they lasted him until his death 1985). He joined the MGC as a Sgt in 8 Battery. He spoke of the retreat to the Marne as fighting in a different direction. On over the top his best friend was wounded with a bullet in the foot, it was sticking out and if it was removed he could of walked, but they weren't allowed to stop to help the wounded, he never saw his friend again. He said the regiment lost 400 men in 20 minutes.
Sgt. William Henry Hands MM.
British Army 11th Btn. West Yorkshire Regiment
from:Drakes Cross, Wythall, Nr Birmingham
(d.12th May 1917)
Do not know very much at all about William Hands except that in the 1911 census he was still living at home aged 16, with dad, George and mother, Ellen (his father was a house painter). He was working at Cadburys as a chocolate moulder. He died of his wounds and was buried in the Military Cemetery at Lijssenthoek, 10 miles west of Ieper nr Poperinge.
Pte. Arthur James Handy
British Army 2nd Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment
from:5 Bellevue Avenue, Shenstone Rd, Birmingham
(d.22nd Mar 1918)
Arthur James Handy was actually born in 1885 although, for some reason, his age as recorded on the Commonwealth War Graves and war records states he was 24 when he died (he was actually 33). He was the eldest of the eight children of James and Ellen Handy of 50 Alderminster and is recorded on the War Memorial at Alderminster Church.
We are also aware that Arthur's cousins Henry (Harry) Handy who was a Driver in the Royal Army Service Corps and Henry's brother Percy Gerald Handy a Private in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment also gave their lives in the Great War.
Pte. J. Handy
British Army 14th Btn. Durham Light Infantry
from:Stanley, County Durham
(d.19th Dec 1915)
Pte. John Edward Handyside
British Army 2nd Btn. Northumberland Fusiliers
from:North Shields
(d.2nd Oct 1916)
John Edward Handyside was born in Jarrow around 1894. Son of John Edward and Margaret Handyside of 9 Heaton Terrace, Chirton, North Shields. On the 1911 census, he is listed as John Edward Handyside age 17. Cage Onsetter underground in Pit is with his parents John Edward and Margaret Handyside at 50 Lansdowne Terrace, North Shields.
John enlisted in Newcastle and died of his wounds aged 22 on 2nd October 1916. Theatre of war is listed as Mediterranean. Most likely he was wounded in actions on the Struma Front against Bulgarian troops. He is buried in Lahana Military Cemetery.
Pte. Emmanuel Hankey
British Army 9th Btn. Cheshire Regiment
from:10 York Place, Northwick, Cheshire
(d.20th Sep 1917)
Emmanuel Hankey was my great uncle and one of three sons of Mrs Phoebe Hankey who died in the Great War, the others were Samuel Hankey and Thomas Hankey. He fought in the Battle of Menin Ridge which took place between 20th and 25th September 1917 and was killed on the first day. I have only just started to research Emmanuel and his brothers, so if anyone has information or photos they could share, I would be very grateful.
Pte Emmanuel Hankey
British Army 9th Btn Cheshire Regiment
from:Northwich, Cheshire
(d.20 September 1917)
Pte Emmanuel Hankey was my great-uncle, from Northwich, Cheshire. He died, along with 2 of his brothers Thomas and Samuel in the Great War. My grandfather John Hankey (also known as John Brown) survived.
Pte. John Hankey
British Army 26th Btn. Middlesex Regiment
from:6 Mulberry St, Hanley, Staffs
(d.1918)
John Hankey served with the 26th Middlesex.
Cpl. Frederick W. Hankin
Royal Navy HMS Hyacinth Royal Marine Light Infantry
from:Portsmouth
Corporal Frederick Hankin served aboard HMS Hyacinth with the Royal Marine Light Infantry from 12th September 1916 to 23rd September 1919.
Pte. Stephen Hankinson
British Army 8th Btn. Seaforth Highlanders
from:Atherton, Lancashire
(d.13th October 1916)
Pte. John Thomas Hanks
Australian Imperial Forces 36th Btn.
from:Victoria, Australia.
(d.7th Jun 1917)
Pte Edward Hanley
British Army 25th (2nd Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Allendale Medomsley
(d.12th October 1917)
Pte. Joseph Hanley
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Durham City
(d.5th June 1921)
Joseph Hanley is buried in Redhills R.C. Cemetery, Durham
Pte. Michael Hanley
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Durham City
(d.1st July 1916)
Michael Hanley is named on the Thiepval Memorial
Pte. T. Hanley
British Army 24th (Tyneside Irish) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers
from:Newcastle
Pte. William Hanley
British Army 1/16th QWR Btn. London Regiment
(d.1st July 1916)
The family story is that Billy Hanley was shot on the 1st July 1916 but he did make it back to the Trench as his pocket watch was returned from the front. William Hanley was the son of John and Mary Hanley of 18 Strand Street Enniskillen Co Fermanagh NI.
Pte. Daniel Hanlon
British Army Royal Munster Fusiliers
from:Charleville. Co.Cork
(d.Aug 1915)
Daniel Halon was my father's brother. He enlisted in the Royal Munster Fusiliers and was a casualty of the Gallipoli Campaign. This is all the information I have,as I come from a family where my mother was Republican and my father wouldn't speak about his families service in the British forces. I would appreciate any information as to the whereabouts of the above soldiers grave or his service record.
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