Froude Hancock
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29 August 1865
William Hancock, brother
 Froude Hancock (1865–1933). Photo taken c. 1890 in Cape Town, probably on the "Missionary" rugby tour | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Philip Froude Hancock 29 August 1865 Wellington, Somerset, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 16 October 1933 (aged 68) Clifton, Bristol, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable relative(s) | Frank Hancock, brother William Hancock, brother | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Philip Froude Hancock universally known as Froude Hancock (29 August 1865 – 16 October 1933)[1] was an English rugby union forward who played international rugby for the British Isles XV on two tours, the 1891 and 1896 tour of South Africa.
Hancock was born in 1865 at Wellington, Somerset, one of the ten sons of William Hancock of Wiveliscombe, Somerset, a notable brewer.[2] One of his elder close female relatives was Mary Ann Hancock (eldest daughter of an earlier William Hancock of Wiveliscombe), who in 1827 married John Prestwood Bellew (born 1803),[3] nephew and eventual heir of Rev. John Froude II (1777–1852), of East Anstey Barton, lord of the manor of East Anstey in Devon, the notorious evil "hunting parson", Vicar of nearby Knowstone-cum-Molland, whose mother was Prestwood Love Legassick (1750–1823). In 1914 the principal landowner in the parish of East Anstey was Ernest Legassicke Hancock (1862–1932) of Rhyll Manor,[4] East Anstey, fourth son of William Hancock of Wiveliscombe.[5] Thus the connection of Froude Hancock to Exmoor and West Anstey Common, where survives his memorial stone. Froude Hancock was one of ten brothers, five of whom played rugby for Somerset, with Hancock and his brother Frank Hancock selected at international level.
Hunting career
A keen sportsman, he was a member of several hunts, including the Devon and Somerset Staghounds, based on Exmoor, but most notably the Dulverton Foxhounds Hunt, whose territory covered East Anstey. In 1930 the assistant master of the Dulverton Foxhounds was E.L. Hancock of Rhyll Manor, East Anstey, where the kennels were located.[6] A follower of the Devon and Somerset wrote that "the outstanding figure, with the widest knowledge of the sport and of all that it implied, the best supporter of it, the readiest friend of all, be they natives of the west country or visitors it, in a word the most respected, admired, popular man on Exmoor was Froude Hancock of Wiveliscombe."[7] A memorial stone of granite was placed on Anstey Common two years after his death, on a spot from which Hancock watched the hunt in his old age.
