Harold Pocock

Bank: Williams Deacon’s Bank

Place of work: London Birchin Lane branch

Died: 16 October 1918

Harold Francis Pocock was born in Camberwell, London, on 10 March 1890, the son of Alfred Grooby Pocock, a solicitor, and his wife Catherine Matilda. He was educated at Wilson Grammar School, Camberwell, and then at Lycée Lakande, Bourg, France.

In February 1908 Pocock went to work for Williams Deacon's Bank. He was appointed specifically because he was a fluent French speaker, which the bank needed to staff the temporary branch it was due to operate at the Franco-British Exhibition to be held in London that summer. Pocock worked at the temporary branch from May until October 1908.

By 1914 Pocock was working in the bank's London Birchin Lane office. When war broke out in August that year, Pocock left the bank to join the army. He served in France and Flanders continuously from November 1914, and survived almost until the end of the war. Corporal Pocock of the London Regiment was killed in action in France on 16 October 1918. He was 28 years old.

Harold Pocock is commemorated on a bank war memorial at Hardman Boulevard office, Manchester.