John Pitman

Memorial: Dyrham - St Peter's Church

Regiment: Royal Armoured Corps

Medals: 1939–45 Star, War Medal 1939–1945

Rank and number: Captain 45465

Parents: Ernest and Frances Isabel Pitman

Marital status: Married

Home address: Parents: The Cottage Dyrham John and Elizabeth: Dipenhall Cottage, Farnham Surrey

Pre-war occupation: Soldier

Date of birth: 1907

Place of birth: Bath

Date of death: 01/10/1943

Buried/Commemorated at: He is buried at Khayat Beach War Cemetery, Haifa, Israel and Palestine and commemorated along with his brother and sister on the War Memorial in the churchyard of St. Peter’s Church, Dyrham.

Age: 36

Further information:

John served with the 3rd King's Own Hussars, Royal Armoured Corps and died of his wounds whilst on active service in Palestine.

Jack was grand-son of Sir Isaac Pitman inventor of the Pitman shorthand system and founder of Pitman Press (Bath). His father was a publisher in the family business. Jack was one of four brothers and he had two younger sisters. One of his brothers, Peter Pitman-Butler and one of his sisters, Honor Isabel Salmon, also died on war service. Jack was educated at Eton and Oxford then joined the army. He married Elizabeth Cattanach Pitman of Farnham, Surrey in 1934 and together they had 2 sons and a daughter. Jack had reached the rank of Captain by 1938.
Jack’s regiment were stationed at a tented camp in Palestine, in readiness for an invasion of Rhodes. It was extremely hot and dry and on the day of Jack’s death, several nearby ammunition dumps caught fire. The fire rapidly went out of control and Jack, ignoring warnings to move to safety, was killed instantly when a large piece of metal, flung high into the air by a massive explosion, fell directly on his head.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

With kind permission of Edward Walsh.
This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/
http://www.dyrhamandhinton.com/pitman2.pdf