Here's the link to someone famous (everyone likes to find one of those!)

Hancock's half hour

I love these questions...
An Aunt of mine once casually asked me to remind her which of her many uncles it was who had married Tony Hancock's mother.
She was assuming {never assume} that I already knew this tale!
You can imagine this piqued my interest... and a quick delve revealed a few details.

I searched on Goggle for "Hancock & Sennett" and came up with this image of his memorial stone at St. Dunstan's Church, Cranford Park, Middlesex (see it on a map here). It clearly shows that Tony's mother had taken the name of Sennett when she died in 1969.

This memorial stone is in the churchyard of
St. Dunstan's Church.
In Memory of
Tony Hancock
Born 12 May 1924
Died 25 June 1968
And His Mother
Lucie Lilian
Sennett
Born 4 September 1890
Died 8 November 1969

The Middlesex church is a long way from Bournemouth, where Lily had settled at the time of her death - but perhaps this church was in the area where Tony had settled.
FreeBMD tells us Anthony J. Hancock birth was registered in Kings Norton in 1924.

I have found pictures of Lily (Hancock) Sennett:












Tony Hancock
If you'd like to hear something of the man's work...try this page from the BBC Radio 7.

Here's some biographical details, thanks to Wikipedia and Tony Hancock's Biography.

"Tony Hancock was born on the 12th May 1924, the second of three sons to Jack and Lily Hancock, at 41 Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham. From the age of three he was brought up in Bournemouth where his father, John Hancock, ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, working as a comedian and entertainer.
After his father's death in 1934, Tony and his brothers lived with their mother and stepfather {that's Lily's second husband, Mr Walker} at a small hotel then known as The Durlston Court (now renamed The Quality Hotel) in Eastcliff, Bournemouth. The venue has strong Hancock connections - it was owned by Hancock's parents from 1932 until the early 1940's and Tony lived there until he joined the RAF in November 1942."

"He was educated at a boarding school at Durlston in Swanage and Bradfield College, Berkshire. He left school at the age of fifteen. In 1942 he joined the RAF Regiment and, following a failed audition for the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), ended up with The Ralph Reader Gang Show. Following the war he received regular radio work in shows such as Workers' Playtime and Variety Bandbox. In 1951, he gained a part in Educating Archie, where he played the tutor and foil to the nominal star, a ventriloquist's dummy. This brought him wider recognition and a catchphrase used frequently in the show; 'flippin' kids'. The same year, he made regular appearances on BBC Television's popular light entertainment show Kaleidoscope. In 1954 he was given his own BBC radio show, Hancock's Half Hour."

Hancock went to Australia, to make a new series but his alcoholism dragged him down; he only completed 3 programmes. He committed suicide in Sydney on June 1968.
Spike Milligan commented in 1989:

"Very difficult man to get on with. He used to drink excessively. You felt sorry for him. He ended up on his own. I thought, he's got rid of everybody else, he's going to get rid of himself. And he did."

Hancock left a suicide note containing a bleak assessment of his 44-year life:

"Things seemed to go wrong too many times."

Hmm, bleak is the word for it.


Back to the original question...
There has been no mention anywhere in Hancock's on-line biogs of the name of his Sennett Stepfather {but there was some interesting new info in a new Biography} - so which of my relatives was he...?

Just to fill in the gaps for the terminally confused - James Sennett & Lizzie Sennett nee Fitzpatrick were my Grandma's parents. James came from the Byers Green area of Co. Durham and was one of 8 children.

So, I now know that the Mystery Uncle is James' older brother Harry. (See this other Trunk Calls blogpost about Harry and his life - he was married three times altogether.)

So, Lucie Lilian Hancock was born Lucie Lilian Thomas. She was later married to Mr Walker, who died very shortly before our Harry married Lily in 1960 (but he died in 1965).

This photo of Lily at a Boscombe football match was taken during this period - around 1963.  Lily is on the right & we also see Tony & his second wife Freddie. But no Harry! (source - 6/2009)




That's nearly a blogfull!
So anyway, my Gran and her older brother Austin once got to visit backstage at a Hancock show on the strength of this family link! (They were in their forties at the time.)

Okay, so now I've found an ancestor who's (almost) famous, I can stop?!
Lisa