Lance Corporal Henry Stephen Hancock, who died on 7th December 1917, is buried in Favreuil British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, Pas de Calais, France (plot II D 7). Favreuil is a village about 2 kilometres north of Bapaume. Favreuil village was occupied by British troops in March 1917, lost in March 1918 (by which time Lance Corporal Hancock had died) and retaken by the 37th and New Zealand Divisions on 25th August 1918.
The cemetery was begun in April 1917 and used until March 1918. There are now nearly 400 First World War casualties commemorated at this site. In Homage to Harry, the author, Maureen M Smith, writes: “When Harry was killed, there was only a wooden cross to mark his grave with his name and rank on it – again spelt incorrectly. When Peggy Hancock wrote to the War Graves Commission requesting his burial place, she pointed out that his surname was wrongly spelt on the original cross. This was duly rectified when the new white Portland stone headstone was erected at Favreuil Cemetery.”
