Mr William Henry Saundercock was born in St Austell, Cornwall, England on 18 September 1892.

He was the son of Richard Wellington Saundercock (b. 1864), a farm labourer, and Kate Burley (b. 1863), both Cornwall natives who were married in 1888. William was one of six children, his siblings being: Olive (1889-1975), Elsie (1890-1962, later Mrs Arthur Matthews), Augustus (1894-1968), Edith (1897-1948, later Mrs Walter Nancarrow) and Milly (1899-1961, later Mrs William Martin).

He first appears on the 1901 census living with his family at Behago (?), Cuby, Cornwall and his father was described as a rabbit trapper. By the time of the 1911 census the family had moved to Penwithick, St Austell and William and his brother Augustus were described as China Clay labourers and his father as a China Clay washer.

He embarked Titanic at Southampton as a third class passenger (ticket number 2151, £8 1s) along with Ernest Cann of St Austell who also worked as a China clay labourer. They may have also been acquainted with William Nancarrow, another clay labourer from St Austell. Their destination in the USA is unknown.

Saundercock was lost in the sinking and his body, if recovered, was never identified.

Following the disaster both his parents continued to reside in St Austell; his mother passed away in 1920 and his father in 1933. His last surviving sibling was his eldest sister Olive who remained a spinster and passed away in 1975. By coincidence, his sister Edith (1897-1948) was married in 1918 to Walter Nancarrow (1900-1951) who was the son of another Titanic victim, William Henry Nancarrow.