Thomas Hancock (VC)  Thomas Hancock VC (July 1823 – 12 March 1871) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was about 33 years old, and a private in the 9th Lancers (The Queen's Royal), British Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 19 June 1857 at Delhi, India for which he and John Purcell were awarded the VC:   In a later dispatch from Brigadier-General Hope Grant, C.B. to Major H. W. Norman, Assistant Adjutant-General of the Army, on 10 January 1858, Hope writes:  He later achieved the rank of corporal. He died in Westminster Workhouse, 12 March 1871, and was buried in a common (unmarked) grave in Brompton Cemetery. A memorial stone was subsequently placed over the burial plot on 15 October 2011.