Volunteers of Essendon and Flemington, 1914-1918

Hancock F    Pte    4720    Frank              22 Inf Bn    33    Driver    Married    C of E        

Address:    Ascot Vale, Harding St, 1a  

Next of Kin:    Hancock, May A, Mrs, wife,  1a Harding St, Ascot Vale

                                                                 118 Epsom Rd, Ascot Vale   

                                                                 4 Findlay St, Albert Park       here by 19 Nov 1917

                                                                 197 Greville St, Prahran        here by 8 Jan 1919    

                                                                 6 Lawson St, Moonee Ponds  by 1923  Now Mrs M A Jarvis

Enlisted:    7 Feb 1916        

Embarked:     A14 Euripides 4 Apr 1916    

Relatives on Active Service:

Aspinall W H Pte 3010 brother-in-law, KIA

Aspinall N W Pte 3085 brother-in-law

Aspinall F R Sapper 17 brother-in-law

Date of death: 19/05/1918

VILLERS-BRETONNEUX MEMORIAL

Pte Frank Hancock's name on the 22 Inf Battalion's memorial at

Villers-Bretonneux.  Courtesy of Carole Fitzgerald, 2010.

War Service Commemorated

Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour With the Colours 

In Memoriam

HANCOCK.-A tribute to the memory of Frank
(late 22nd Battalion, A.I.F.), killed action on May
19, 1918, loved son-in-law of Mrs. M E
Aspinall, and loved brother-in-law of Herbert (late),
Harold, Fred (returned), and Norman (re- 
turned) Aspinall.       
Ever remembered.     
-(Inserted by Mrs. Aspinall* and family.)

The Argus 19 May 1919

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1469257

HANCOCK.-In loving memory of my son-in-law,
Pte. Frank, missing Ville-sur-Ancre, May 19, 1918.
(Inserted by his loving mother-in-law, M. E. Aspinall,
87 Francis street, Ascotvale.)

The Argus 19 May 1920

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1703431

No further notices in The Argus to 1923.

The Aspinall family lived at 87 Francis St, Ascot Vale.  Frank's sister Phyllis was married to Harold Aspinall.  Frank was married in 1903 to Harold's sister May Augusta Aspinall.  Frank and May had four children:  Elsie May in 1904,Ruby in 1906, Ivy in 1907 and Frank Keith in 1910.  All of the children were registered at Flemington.

Frank was reported missing in action on 19 May 1918, but it was not until 18 Feb 1919 that this status was changed to "Killed In Action" on 19 May 1919.  Prior to Frank's death, however, May had already left the district and went to live in Albert Park.  The fact that her name was not mentioned by her mother, Mrs Aspinall,  in the death notices put in The Argus for May's husband suggests a family rift had occurred at this time. 

May Augusta Hancock married again in 1921 to a returned serviceman, Samuel Jarvis (formerly a private in the 34th Bn, No 54446).  Jarvis had enlisted in 1918 while at Darlinghurst, NSW, and saw limited service, arriving in France after the Armistice.  He may well have tried to enlist earlier than this, but his diminutive height of 5' 1" would have been a problem, though by 1918 the army could no longer afford to be choosy.  Jarvis has several periods in hospital with illness while he was overseas, and died in the Melbourne Hospital in November 1923, about two years after their marriage.  He and May had no children.

Jarvis left May a house at 6 Lawson St, Moonee Ponds, so by 1923 she had moved back to the local area.   Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the Hancocks and May Jarvis appear in the electoral rolls in Newmarket.