Bancroft,+Samuel

Sapper, 49th Div. Signal Coy, Royal Engineers. Service No: 481793. Age: 26. Date of Death: 11/10/1918. Son of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Bancroft, of Silsden, Keighley; husband of Nora Bancroft, of "Woodview," Laycock, Keighley, Yorks. Scout Master, 1st Silsden Troop, Yorks. DUISANS BRITISH CEMETERY, ETRUN. Plot VII. Row B. Grave 60.
 * Bancroft, Sam**



Brother of Joe Bancroft

Sam Bancroft was the eldest of the family, born in 1890 at Oakworth and joined up in 1914 into the Royal Engineers. Prior to the outbreak of war he was a member of the Territorials, and was also a prominent ambulance worker before enlisting. In correspondence to his family in January 1915 he wrote saying, //“ I received the parcel and all the men of Silsden wish me to thank all who have contributed on their behalf. The cloths will keep us very warm during the winter. I have got into trouble going home without leave from Birstall. I fairly caught it when I got back, but I was not alone. There were 84 of us, and we all got 21 days pay stopped, which is rather hard lines. However we broke one of the Army laws so we must keep on smiling. It was our own fault, so we must just stand it, although it is hard lines”.// In a letter received by a friend from Addingham in May 1915, he said //“I am in the best of health, and have been in the trenches for three days and could count on one hand the number of men who had been killed or wounded. We have been shelled out of a village. The second night in the trenches we had all the wires broken, and the officer and myself had gone out to repair them. It was not a very nice job, but had to be done so that they could get the news through”.// A further letter received by his family in February 1916 says //“We are fine, and are now enjoying a well earned rest. We must have earned it or we should not have got one. It feels grand to be away from the trenches for a while. I suppose Silsden will be quiet now as all the young men who are medically fit will be soldiers, it not they ought to be. How long do you think the war is going on? It can’t last forever, as we can hold out longer than the Germans. We do know that the Germans are getting worse off, so let us hope that before long they will give it up as a bad job”.// His wife received a letter saying that on 11th October 1918 he was dangerously wounded by a shell, and that it had been necessary to amputate a limb, which had resulted in his death. He left a wife and a baby daughter and was buried at The Duisans British Cemetery, Etrun, France.