Name
John Edward Pitkin
1899
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
05/11/1916
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
G/24485
The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment)
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 5 D and 6 D.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
Berkhamsted Town Memorial
Pre War
John Edward (Jack) Pitkin was born in Berkhamsted in 1889, the son of Andrew and Sarah Pitkin. He was baptised on 2 February 1890 in nearby Aldbury Church, Herts.
On the 1891 and 1901 Censuses the family were living in Ellesmere Road, Northchurch, Berkhamsted, where his father was working as a platelayer for the London and North Western Railway.
He married Florence Edith Morris in Woolwich, London in 1909. and at the time of the 1911 Census they were living at 41 Gossoms End, Berkhamsted and he was working as a brush maker.
Wartime Service
John enlisted in Watford, Herts and initially joined the East Surrey Regiment under reg, no. 29726, later being transferred to the 1st Battalion, Queens (Royal West Surrey) Regiment.
He was killed in action on 5 November 1916 near Guillemont, during the Battle of the Somme. He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Additional Information
His widow Florence received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £6 4s 10d. A pension card exists which gives the name of his mother Sarah as the dependant claiming a pension, but gives no indication if a pension was paid.
Register of soldier's effects suggests his widow remarried as her surname is given as Dodman on their records but a marriage has yet to be found.
N.B. The Pitkin family were living next door to the Sills family in Ellesmere Road, Northchurch, in 1891 and 1901, whose son Lewis also died in 1916. Both are named on the Thiepval Memorial and the Berkhamsted Memorial.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, queensroyalsurreys.org.uk.
