Tonbridge School and the Great War: Edward Pitt-Pitts
As we approach Remembrance Sunday and the centenary commemorations for the end of the First World War, the school is paying tribute to those among its ranks who served in the conflict, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice.
By the end of the war 415 Tonbridgians had died, roughly the size of the school at that time. The Tonbridge death rate of one in five of those who served is the average across all public schools; the overall national death rate is one in ten. Death fell disproportionately on the young. About half of Tonbridgians killed were 24 years of age or under, and half of them were aged 20 or under. Most of them were junior officers in the Army.
Over the coming days we are highlighting some of the individual stories of Tonbridgians who served in the Great War.
Today we feature 2nd Lieut. Edward Crewdson Pitt-Pitts.
For more about Tonbridge School and the Great War, including complete records of all who served, as well as features, calendars, a timeline and wartime copies of The Tonbridgian, please click here.
2nd Lieut. Edward Crewdson Pitt-Pitts
4TH BATTN. THE BUFFS (EAST KENT REGT.) (T.F.). KILLED IN ACTION NEAR BRANCOURT, OCTOBER 17TH, 1918. AGED 26.
Biographical extract from Tonbridge School And The Great War:
At the School 1905-9 (Day Boy).
Joining the Inns of Court O.T.C. on June 28th, 1917, he was gazetted to the 4th Battn. of The Buffs (East Kent Regt.) (T.F.), May 1st, 1918, and joined his Battalion at Tonbridge. The Buffs had lost heavily in September, and he was sent out to the front with a number of other officers from the 4th Battalion on October 1st, 1918.
Being posted to the 1st Battalion, he joined them on the 6th, and only eleven days later, on October 17th, was struck by a large fragment of shell and instantaneously killed whilst leading his Platoon in an attack near Brancourt, in the course of the advance subsequent to the Battle of Cambrai, in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line.
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