Of note is he was recorded having a tattoo of the 18th Battalion Badge. I wonder if he got that tattoo from Private Andrew Weber aboard the SS Grampian as the Battalion moved to England on the next stage of it journey to the war.
“Son of George William and Naomi Bancroft, of Hadfield, Manchester, England. Admitted to Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario on January 19, 1917, he died of meningitis two days later.”
PTE. BANCROFT BURIED WITH MILITARY HONORS
The funeral of Pte. Harold Bancroft, a returned soldier, and former member of the 18th Battalion, was held Tuesday afternoon from the undertaking parlors of Smith, Son & Clarke.
Bancroft was buried with full military honors. Sergt.-Major Woodrow[i], of the 118th Battalion, took charge of the funeral. Promptly at 2 o’clock the cortege moved off at the slow march, headed by a firing party of the 149th Battalion. The Band of the 149th was in attendance, and a gun-carriage loaned by the 63rd Battery carried the remains.
The party proceeded to Mount Pleasant Cemetery, where interment was made in the plot set aside for soldiers who have died in this city. At the grave the members of the firing party of the 149th handed over their rifles to members of the 18th Battalion, who fired the final volley over the grave of their dead comrade.
Capt. W.E. Hindson, chaplain of the 153rd Battalion, conducted the service.
Source: London Advertiser. January 24, 1917. Contributed by Allan Miller of the 149th Battalion – The Lambtons Facebook Group.
[i] No soldier by this name is listed on the 118th Battalion Nominal Roll dated March 4, 1917.
War Diary of the 18th Battalion CEF 
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