Big Red Book
Celebrating television's This Is Your Life
Richard BANCROFT (?-1967)
THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Richard Bancroft, retired postman, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews as he arrived at the BBC Television Theatre with six colleagues from the post office, having been led to believe he was there to take part in a film about the GPO.
Richard, who worked as a milkman after leaving school, joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and was later loaned out to the Australian Navy until he retired in 1937 with the rank of Petty Officer. After returning to the UK, he settled in Cumbria, where he became a postman. During the Second World War, he served with the Home Guard and Air Training Corp before serving with the Royal Engineers on the repair ship Vestrey in 1944.
Returning to his job as a postman in 1947, Dick, as he was known, became a well-liked and respected member of the local community. Stories of his kindness and helpfulness among the remote villages of Cumbria, including his annual appearances as Father Christmas, were recalled by his guests, who, in keeping with the seasonal broadcast, each brought him a Christmas present.
programme details...
on the guest list...
production team...
Whitehaven News 29 December 1960
In This Is Your Life
Mr Richard Herbert (Dick) Bancroft, a retired postman living at Gosforth, was featured in the BBC This Is Your Life television broadcast on Boxing Day. The broadcast, watched by millions of viewers, was the BBC's tribute to the Postal Service but the story was that of Dick Bancroft – and a fascinating story it was.
When Dick Bancroft went to London recently he thought he was going to take part in a GPO film. He little knew that he was to be greeted by BBC commentator Eamonn Andrews and appear on television screens throughout the country.
After being introduced by Mr Andrews, Dick was amazed to see the Seascale sub-postmaster, Mr Robert Williamson, appear on the stage to tell of his devotion to duty in the postal service.
RIVER RESCUE
Then came a reunion with Dick's sister, Mrs Winifred Garrett, whom he had not seen for 34 years. Mrs Garrett told how, at the age of 13 years, Dick, fully clothed, dived into the River Avon to bring out the body of a woman.
She also told how Dick joined the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and a half years and was later loaned to the Australian Navy with which he served seven years.
It was while on holiday at Cockermouth that Dick Bancroft met the girl who was later to become his wife – and what a pleasant surprise it was for him to see her come onto the platform and take her place by his side.
MANY MEMORIES
After Mrs Bancroft came a succession of people bringing presents for Dick and piecing together the story as brought to light by Ronald Vivian.
Barbara Armstrong, of the Woolpack Inn, Eskdale, told how Dick used to insist on helping with the washing-up after he'd had his Christmas dinner at the inn, and his many kindnesses to her family.
From Major Cyril Lee came an account of Mr Bancroft's service with the Royal Engineers in the 1939-45 war and Anneke Kloet-Abranharnsee, a Dutch girl told how the Gosforth ex-postman became a friend of her family in Holland.
Mr John Steele, a Gosforth postman and clerk to the Parish Council; Miss Edie Long, of Wasdale Head; Mrs Rene Coupe, of the Globe Hotel, Gosforth; Mrs Mary Nolan, of Boot Post Office, Eskdale, and Mr John D Eilbeck, assistant postmaster at Whitehaven, all paid tribute to a kindly, helpful man who was overwhelmed by their gifts and stories.
FROM AUSTRALIA
In good Cumberland dialect, Mr Bancroft's younger son, Joe, told something of his father's story.
Then came the climax. Out of a giant Christmas cracker stepped Bert Bancroft, Dick's elder son, from Australia. The two had not met for eleven years and the reunion was a most affecting scene.
There was nearly a slip-up. By coincidence Dick and his son from Australia had been booked in at the same London hotel. Had they met, the climax to the story would have been ruined. Fortunately, an alert receptionist spotted the mistake and Bert was hurriedly transferred to another hotel.
Whitehaven News 9 May 1967
Mr R H Bancroft
The death occurred at West Cumberland Hospital on Saturday of Mr Richard Herbert Bancroft, of Gosforth Gate, a former postman in the Seascale, Ennerdale, Gosforth area.
Mr Bancroft, known to his friends as "Dick" and described by the Head postmaster at Whitehaven, Mr J G Hey, as a conscientious, well liked and respected person, started life with the GPO as a postman in Seascale.
Previous to joining the GPO, Mr Bancroft served in the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1926, the Royal Australian Navy from 1926 to 1936, and in the Army from 1943 to 1946.
On Boxing Day 1960, six months before he retired, Mr Bancroft was the subject of the BBC programme This Is Your Life, the climax of which was being re-united with his son, Richard, whom he had not seen for many years and who had flown from Australia with his wife and children by the BBC.
Mr Bancroft leaves a widow and two sons, Joseph, who lives in the area, and Richard, who is in Australia.
Series 6 subjects
Leonard Cheshire | George Bennett | David Sheppard | Sybil Thorndike | Clarence Wolfe | Charles Coward | T E B Clarke