Capt Arthur de Bells Adam (MC)
1885 - 1916

CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916

Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916

Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916

Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918

Pte 46697 Timothy Charles Hancock

Age: 35
From: Everton, Liverpool
Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
K.I.A Wednesday 7th November 1917
Commemorated at: Kemmel Chateau Mil Cem
Panel Ref: O.13

Timothy Charles Hancock was born in Everton, Liverpool on 20th March 1882, the son of Lotan Hancock and his wife Emily Mary (née Bradley). His father was born in West Bromwich, Staffordshire, and his mother in Birmingham; they married at St John's Church, Birkenhead in 1869 and had five children: Lotan, born in 1870, Thomas Albert, 1874, and Mary Elizabeth in 1876 (died in infancy), were born in Birkenhead, while William Henry, 1878, and Timothy, 1882, were born in Liverpool.

Timothy, named after his paternal grandfather, was baptised in St. Peter’s Church, Everton, on 30th April, his parents living at 3 Hamilton Square, Roscommon Street, and his father’s occupation engineer.

In 1883, when he was just 10 months old Timothy’s mother Emily died, at the age of 37, and was buried in a public grave in Kirkdale Cemetery, leaving her widowed husband with four children under the age of 12.

In 1885 his father, 37, remarried, to Annie Whitlow, 22, both widowed, giving their address as Rose Place. Timothy was 3 years old and Annie was the only mother he ever knew. Annie had a daughter, Alice. Together they had Alfred in 1888, twins Edward and Mary Elizabeth in 1890, Sarah Ann in 1894, Alexander James in 1897, (and apparently another set of twins Margaret and John, in 1902, who appear on the 1911 census but whose birth records cannot be found).

In 1891 Timothy, 9, is living with his father and (step)mother at 20 Leyden Street, Kirkdale. His father is a portable engine driver. His brother William is 12, step-sister Alice is 6, and half-siblings Alfred is 3, Mary and Edward are 4 months old.

Timothy (who would have been 19) has not been found on the 1901 Census; his father and family are living at 29 Index street, with six children. His father is a dock labourer, Alfred is 14, twins Edward and Mary are 11, Sarah, 7, Alexander 3, Alice is 16.

When he was 23, Timothy married Mary Ann Maddox at All Saints, Liverpool, on Christmas Eve in 1905. He gives his occupation as porter and his address as 68 Victoria Square. Mary was aged 21 of 27 Victoria Square, her father, John, was an iron turner.

Their first child, and their only son, Thomas Albert, was born in 1907, but sadly died at six months old. Mary Ann was born in 1908, and Rose in 1910. His father Lotan died in 1910, aged 72.

In 1911 Timothy, 29, and Mary Ann, 27, are living at 119 Ashfield Cottages (which, despite the bucolic name, were tenements off Vauxhall Road). Timothy is a shop porter in a tailor’s establishment, Mary Ann is 3, and Rose is 5 months old. Brother in law George Maddox, 19, a shop porter, is living with them.

They had another daughter, Ann, in 1912. But Timothy and Annie suffered another loss when Rose died, age 3, in June 1914. Another daughter, Agnes, was born in 1915. Their last child, another girl, Teresa, was born in January 1917.

The details of his service are not known, as his record has not survived, but we do know that Timothy enlisted in Liverpool, as Private 46697, 1st Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment. At some point he was transferred to the 17th Bn K.L.R. By the summer of 1917 the battalion was in the dreaded Ypres Salient. The Third Battle of Ypres, also known as Passchendaele, began on 31st July and continued until November.

The War Diary for November 1917 records the battalion in the Hollebeke sector:

At 9p.m. on 5th November the battalion relieved the 20th King's Liverpool Regiment in the front line trenches. On 7th November, holding the front line, 4 Other Ranks were Killed and 3 Wounded. (The other 17th Battalion Pals killed that day were Privates 51659 Richard David Williams, 86440 Albert Edward Nicholls, and 86428 Harry Copp.)

His death was reported in the Liverpool Daily Post on the 08th December 1917;

King's Liverpool Regiment). - Duncan, 330069. Sgt G.; Hancock, 46697, T. C.; Pringle, 331985, Cpl J. D.; Ramage, 200459, J.; Warren, 331289, R.; Williams, 51559, R. D.;

Timothy was 35 years old. He now rests in Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery, Ypres, Flanders, where his epitaph reads,

“MY GOD AND MY ALL”.

Kemmel Chateau was north-east of Kemmel village and the cemetery was established on the north side of the chateau grounds in December 1914. It continued to be used by divisions fighting on the southern sectors of the Belgian front until March 1918, when after fierce fighting involving both Commonwealth and French forces, the village and cemetery fell into German hands in late April. The cemetery was retaken later in the year, but in the interval it was badly shelled and the old chateau destroyed. There are now 1,135 Commonwealth burials of the First World War in the cemetery and 21 from the Second World War (which all date from the Allied withdrawal ahead of the German advance of May 1940). The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

He was reported killed in the Liverpool Daily Post on 08th December 1917.

His daughters were 9, 5, 2, and 10 months old when he died. His widow Mary Ann, living with her parents, John and Ann Maddox, at 28 Penrhyn Street, Everton, received his effects, Army Pay of £4-18s-3d, including a War Gratuity of £5-10s-0, and a pension of £1-9s-7d a week for herself and three children.

Mary Ann suffered yet more tragedy when Teresa died, aged 16 months, six months after Timothy’s death, in May 1918. Their three children are buried in unmarked public graves in Ford Cemetery.

His younger (half) brother Edward, Pte 266660, 7th K.L.R, was killed in action on 20th June 1917 at Ypres. He now rests at Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery. He was 26.

His widow Mary Ann never remarried and was still living with her parents at 28 Penrhyn Street in 1939, aged 55, with youngest daughter Agnes, 24, a fruit shop assistant. Agnes married in 1940, had a family, and died at the age of 90 in 2005. Eldest daughter Mary Ann Lacy and her two children are also in the home. Family trees show Mary Ann dying in Ontario in 1984, but this has not been verified. Middle daughter Ann married and had a family; it is not known when she died. His widow Mary Ann appears to have died in 1961, aged 77. She was buried in a public grave.

On the 1921 Census at 28 Penrhyn Street, his widow, Mary, is aged 37, with children Mary Ann 13, Ann 8 and Agnes 6.

CWGC shows, “Son of Lotan and Emily Mary Hancock, of Liverpool; husband of Mary A. Hancock, of 28 Penrhyn Street, Liverpool”

Timothy is commemorated on the following Memorials:

St. Anthony's R.C. Church Memorial

Liverpool Hall of Remembrance Panel 57

We currently have no further information on Timothy Charles Hancock. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.

Killed On This Day.

(110 Years this day)
Monday 1st May 1916.
L/Sgt 15959 Neville Brookes Fogg
32 years old

(109 Years this day)
Tuesday 1st May 1917.
Pte 33195 George Allen
30 years old

(109 Years this day)
Tuesday 1st May 1917.
L/Cpl 17823 Harry Cuthbert Fletcher
27 years old

(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 300188 Albert Charles Bausor
31 years old

(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 64776 Gerald Blank
20 years old

(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Sgt 57831 Leonard Conolly
25 years old

(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
L/Cpl 94253 Ernest Firth
22 years old

(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 49533 Henry Rigby
32 years old

(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 17721 Charles Henry Squirrell
26 years old

(107 Years this day)
Thursday 1st May 1919.
Pte 91536 John Alfred Croft Kelly
26 years old