Leslie Hancock (cricketer)
English cricketer and British Army officer (1899-1944)
Leslie Frank Hancock (25 October 1899 – 12 July 1944) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
Hancock was born at Jamnagar in British India to a British Indian Army major. He was educated in England at Cheltenham College, deciding upon the completion of his education to take a career in the military. Going up to the Royal Military College, he graduated into the Royal Engineers as a second lieutenant in July 1921, before gaining the rank of lieutenant in July 1923. He played first-class cricket twice for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in 1926 against Wales and Cambridge University, with both matches played at Lord's. He scored 24 runs in his two matches, in addition to taking a single wicket with his right-arm medium-fast bowling, that of Wales' Cyril Rowland.
He was granted the temporary rank of captain while serving as an adjutant with the Territorial Army in October 1929, later gaining the rank in full in July 1932. Hancock later served in the Second World War with the Royal Engineers, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In the aftermath of the Normandy Landings in June 1944, Hancock commanded engineers constructing advanced landing grounds (ALG). While overseeing the construction of the Royal Air Force ALG B-12 at Ellon, Hancock was killed when the jeep he was travelling in struck a landmine near Maupertus-sur-Mer on 12 July.
The public source identifies “Leslie Hancock (cricketer)” as english cricketer and British Army officer (1899-1944). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Leslie, Hancock and cricketer.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Leslie Hancock (cricketer)”, the useful work is to connect “english cricketer and British Army officer (1899-1944)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q104905041. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1944, 1921 and 1923.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Leslie Hancock (cricketer)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Leslie Hancock (cricketer) primary sources, Leslie Hancock (cricketer) archive and Leslie research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Leslie Hancock (cricketer)”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Leslie Hancock (cricketer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.