Dorcas Pitman
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: Cir 1907 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 564 Christening: Death: Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Robert Pitman Mother: LivingElizabeth Pitman
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: Christening: Death: Between 4 Jun 1920 and Jun 1922 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 7583,7584 Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Robert Pitman Mother: Phyllis Bonnell
Spouses and Children
1. Living Children: 1. Henrietta Walters 2. *Laurence Coady 3528 Marriage: Bef 1916 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Children: 1. William Coady 2. Annie Coady 3. Hugh CoadyJames Pitman
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: in Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 412 Christening: Death: Burial: Cause of Death:Events
• Appointment: Member of Protestant School Board, 1852, Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• Occupation: Sub-Collector of Customs, 9 Dec 1905, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
Spouses and Children
1. *Caroline Pitcher 412 Marriage: Children: 1. Robert Pitman 2. Alice Susanna Pitman 3. Margaret Caroline PitmanMargaret Caroline Pitman
Sex: F
Individual Information
Birth Date: 3 Jun 1869 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 412,520 Christening: Death: 18 Mar 1948 - Montreal, Québec, Canada ( at age 78) 412,520 Burial: Cause of Death:Events
• Emigration: From St. John's, Cir 1920, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Parents
Father: James Pitman 412,7581 Mother: Caroline Pitcher 412
Spouses and Children
1. *Edward Cyprian Ashford Ellis 520,4427 Marriage: 22 Nov 1894 - St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 4435Robert PitmanMarriage Events
• Alt. Marriage: 22 Nov 1893, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• Minister/Priest: Rev. Edward Botwood, R. D., 22 Nov 1894, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• Witnesses: Harold Picher, Alicce Pitman, J J Pitman, 22 Nov 1894, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Children: 1. Caroline Pitman Ellis 2. Frank Ashford Ellis 3. Edith Allison Ellis 4. Edward Bertram Ellis 5. Margaret Ellis
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Cir 1856 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Christening: Death: Bef 5 Sep 1914 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada 2248 Burial: Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: James Pitman 412,7581 Mother: Caroline Pitcher 412
Spouses and Children
1. *Phyllis Bonnell Marriage: 28 Nov 1882 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, CanadaLivingMarriage Events
• Minister/Priest: Josiah Darrell, 28 Nov 1882, Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
• Witnesses: Richard Bonnell and George Pitman, 28 Nov 1882, Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Marriage Notes
Both AnglicanChildren: 1. Elizabeth Pitman 2. Living 3. Cpl. William Richard Pitman RNR 2. Living Children: 1. Dorcas Pitman
Sex: F
Parents
Father: Robert Pitman Mother: Phyllis BonnellCpl. William Richard Pitman RNR
Sex: MAKA: Richard Pitman, Dick Pittman 7586, Richard Pittman 7587
Individual Information
Birth Date: Cir Apr 1888 - Lamaline, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Christening: Death: 1 Jul 1916 - Beaumont-Hamel, Picardie, France ( about age 28) 2248 Burial: 1 Jul 1916 - Beaumont-Hamel, Picardie, France Cause of Death: Killed in Battle at Beaumont-HamelEvents
• Physical Description: 5'11", 150 lbs., ruddy complexion,dark hair, brown eyes.
• Military: Cpl. in RNR Regt. No. 400, Between 5 Sep 1914 and 1 Jul 1916.
Parents
Father: Robert Pitman Mother: Phyllis Bonnell Marriage Did Not Marry
Notes
General:
250615:
From The First Five Hundred by Richard Cramm
RICHARD PITMAN Reg. No. 400
Enlisted, Sept. 5, 1914; Lance Corporal, June 17, 1915; British Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Aug. 20, 1915; Corporal, Nov. 14, 1915; Evacuated from Suvla, Jan. 1, 1916; Admitted to Hospital, Malta, Jan. 4, 1916; Discharged to Base Depot, Alexandria, March 23, 1916; British Expeditionary Force, April 13, 1916; Rejoined Battalion, June 9, 1916; Killed in action, Beaumont Hamel, July 1, 1916.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Additional information on the Burin pages of NGB website:
Cpl Wm. Richard Pitman
Cpl Pitman was in the Royal Naval Reserve when WWI began.
He enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment as enlistee
Nr. 400. He was one of the first five hundred, known as the
'Blue Puttees'. He fought in the Gallipoli Campaign from
August 1915 until January 1916 when he was admitted to hospital
in Malta with juandice. He rejoined his battalion in France in
June 1916. Cpl Pitman was killed in battle while leading his
section in the attack on Beaumont Hamel.
There is a monument in the center of Lamaline, alongside the
main road and facing the sea. It reads: "In loving memory of
Wm. Richard Pitman, son of the late Robert and Phyllis Pitman.
Enlisted as a soldier August 25th,1914. Killed in action at the
Battle of the Somme July 1st, 1916. Aged 28 years and 3 months.
'Nobly he died while doing his duty.' "
Contributed by Bob Jacobson, Poquoson, VA
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Here is the conclusion of Joy B. Cave's book "What Became of Corporal Pittman" which includes also an excerpt from the memoirs of Major Stanley Frost, which had not yet been published at the time but which must have been loaned to her by the Major:
ENVOI
We found him eventually, a long time afterwards, almost by accident. We were in the neighbourhood of Auchonvillers and we had turned in at the gates of the Memorial Park to pay our respects, as it were. We always felt at home there, and the quiet peace received us graciously as ever.
I went up the winding path to the top of the Memorial, but she stayed at the bottom looking at the lists of names on the bronze panels. I could not see her: she was hidden from my sight by the outward bulge of the mound. Her voice floated upwards in the still air.
"How do you spell Pittman?"
"P, i, double t, m, a, n. Why?"
She did not answer me directly but asked another question. "Where did you get his name from in the first place?"
"The Roll of Honour in the regimental history."
"Come down here a minute."
I retraced my steps to the bottom of the mound. She pointed eagerly to a name inscribed on the middle panel. "There's a Corporal R. of that name, but it's spelt with only one t - Pitman."
We looked at each other, then made our way to the stone pillar with the bronze niche containing the cemetery register. His regimental number would settle the question. Sure enough, there was the entry: "PITMAN, Cpl. Richard, 400. Killed in action at Beaumont-Hamel 1st July, 1916. Age 28. Son of Robert and Phyllis Pitman, of Lamaline."
"But how did we miss him?" I wondered, puzzled and somehow hurt. Then I had a swift mental picture of her brown head bent over the cemetery registers, and the questing forefinger going down the long columns of names, checking at the words "Newfoundland Regiment", moving over to the date to find out whether it was 1st July, 1916: between tm and tt there are eight letters of the alphabet and that can mean a lot of space in those tragic records. Perhaps it was not so surprising after all that we had missed his name.
"I'm glad we found him, anyway," she said, giving me a quick hug. " It lays a ghost for both of us; and it would have hurt my heart to think of one of our Newfoundlanders without even so much as his name carved on a stone."
I watched her go up the sunlit road as I had watched her go some years before. Then I turned briefly again and looked through the gate.
"One of our Newfoundlanders! It's all right. Corporal. She won't forget."
No answer sounded in my mind's ear. There was no reason to expect one. He had ceased to care a long time ago. The important thing was that we should care, that we should be willing to listen to the lessons that history can teach. If we are not willing to learn from the mistakes of the past then there is no hope for us. The terrorist and the bully-boy will inherit the earth, and the battlefield they will make of it will make even the Somme and Paschaendaele pale into insignificance. "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Corporal Pitman had stood up tor what he had been told was right, what he believed he had to do.
"And what became of him?" The query is sardonic. "Your precious history rolled right over him and flattened him in the mud. What's the good of that?"
There are times when we all have to stand up and be counted and run the risk of being flattened. But stand up we must if the time does come. If it comes and if we recognise its arrival.
There was a great peace lying like a coverlet over the land, not even a slight breeze to stir the pink heads of the roses. I put the cemetery register back in its stone container behind the small bronze door with the cross on it, and quietly closed the gate.
RICHAHD PITMAN
He was twenty-eight when he died. The official record of his army service is brief. The page is dated 3/10/14: it offers the following information:
Draft No. 1
Date of Enlistment - 5 Sept. 14.
Age of Enlistment - 26
Married (Yes or No) - No.
Name: Pit t man, Richard. (Strange that the con fusion about the letters in his name appears at the very beginning, on this official entry).
Regt. No. 400
Next of Kin: Walters, Mrs. Elizabeth
Relationship - Sister
Casualties:
Hospital 1/1/16 Ad. Jaundice. H.S. "Oxfordshire".
do. 4/1/16 Ad. do. St. Paul H., Malta.
do. 23/3/16 Dis. to duty. Base, Alexandria.
Unit 9/6/16 Joined Battalion, France
Unit 1/7/16 Killed in Action. Somme.
Promotions, Reductions, etc.
17/6/15 L./Cpl.
14/11/15 Corpl.
Services in the Field
1 Bn. Date of Embarkation Expeditionary Force
20/8/15B.M.E.F.
13/4/16B.E.F
And that is all. Under the heading "Honours, Awards, etc." there is a blank. The entry headed "Discharge-Authority, Date, Where, Cause" is obviously blank too.
He was discharged of his duties by a very High Authority indeed; the date was almost certainly 1st July, 1916; the exact whereabouts is unknown, but is somewhere in that forty or fifty acres of French ground that form the Memorial Park; the precise cause was a shell fragment perhaps, or a shrapnel ball or a machine-gun bullet or a rifle bullet or a shell-burst or mortar explosion. The precise cause is unimportant really: what is important is that Richard Pitman ceased to exist.
What is even more important is that for twenty-eight years and three months before that hideous, sunlit day he had been very much alive. Even after sixty years there are people who remember that life with affection and respect. He was, apparently, a fisherman. He lived in the outport of Lamaline on the southernmost tip of the Burin Peninsula. Lamaline is a scattered community of brightly-painted wooden houses round a wide bay: in the centre of the bay is an island connected to the mainland by a raised causeway. The most notable feature of the flat landscape is a fine wooden church. In the cemetery at the front of the church is a stone stele, a sort of miniature version of Cleopatra's Needle - about seven feet high. On it are inscribed these words: "Erected by the Society of United Fishermen in memory of two brethren of the Order who fell in the Great War.'' One of the brethren was, almost inevitably, a sailor who lost his life at sea. The other is Richard Pitman. The monument records: "In loving memory of Wm. Richard Pitman, son of the late Robert and Phyllis Pitman. Enlisted as soldier August 25th, 1914. Killed in action at the Battle of the Somme July 1st, 1916. Aged 28 years and 3 months. 'Nobly he died while doing his duty.'"
The family consisted of Richard and two sisters. Rose and Elizabeth. After the death of their mother, Phyllis Pitman, the father married a lady called Emma who became the mother of a baby girl named Dorcas. Robert Pitman died when Dorcas was seven years old and Richard assumed responsibility for the little girl. She is an elderly lady now, but recalls "he was like a father and a brother to me, and we loved each other very much. His death in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 was a great shock and grief to me."
One of his young boy cousins in Lamaline. Mr. George Cake (now also advanced in years, of course) remembers him as "a tall, good-looking man. He lived with his sister Rose on the west side of Lamaline. Just before the Great War he trained with the Naval Reserve in St. John's, but when the war broke out he switched to the army. In the early August, I remember, my mother gave me a note and told me to go to the Meadow where he lived and give it to him. When I arrived he was sitting at the table in the kitchen, having a meal. When he had read the note he smiled and said to me, 'You go back and tell your mother I would sooner be going to the war than sitting here eating my dinner.' So he went and he was wounded out there the next year: when he came out of hospital he wrote to my mother and told her Jonathon Brett went overseas with him in that Five Hundred crowd. He told us that Pitman had been picked out to go in the Military Police but he would have no part of it; he wanted to go back with the boys."
This is borne out by Mr. Cake's brother, Fred. "He had a narrow escape in Gallipoli when a bullet went through his cap, wounding him slightly in the head. He went into hospital in Malta and when he came out he could have stayed as a military policeman but he wouldn't as he wanted to be with the boys of his old regiment. So he was sent to France and hence to his death."
Major Frost, a fellow "Blue Puttee", remembers him very well. "He came from Lamaline and served a term in the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve before the war, but chose the Army for a change. He was eight years older than I: he was tall. powerful, hardy, thoughtful, sober-minded and somewhat reserved until one got to know him. He was entirely trustworthy and an excellent soldier. He served at Gallipoli, was promoted to Corporal and was killed in the battle whilst leading his section on July 1st, 1916. His body was never found and his name is inscribed on the Beaumont Hamel Memorial. I had the utmost respect for Dick and within a short time after enlistment, I counted him as one of my best friends in the Regiment.
Richard Pitman was tall - a little over six feet, I should judge. He had black hair and heavy eyebrows, and dark, piercing eyes which often looked straight ahead, a characteristic discernible in many aspects of his life, particularly in soldiering. He would often lapse into a pensive mood, seemingly with far-away thoughts in his mind, but never with a morose or distant attitude. As mentioned, he was a few years older than the average and we respected his position as tent-leader at Stobs Camp, glad it was not any one of the rest of us! Tidiness, cleanliness and discipline were inherent in him. He knew the value of discipline, perhaps learned from his experience in the Naval Reserve. While others would spend their leisure hours in the canteen or the village, he, like myself, would often be found in the tent or in barracks writing letters. Not that he did not enjoy a pint of beer or a tot of rum. Dick was an adherent of the Church of England and, like most of us, attended Church Parade with the denominational group of one's faith or choice. I do not recall that he was particularly devout: certainly he was not narrow.
His strong constitution served him well at Gallipoli though, like so many, he eventually succumbed to fever and dysentery and was evacuated to hospital on New Year's Day, 1916. He entered hospital in Malta a few days after I was evacuated to England. Dick rejoined the Battalion in France on June 9th, 1916, and within a month was killed at Beaumont Hamel.
The photograph was taken at either Hawick or Aldershot: probably in July or August, 1915, before we embarked for the Eastern Mediterranean. The only other photo I have in which Dick appears is of our little group outside our tent in Stobs Camp in fatigue clothes. I am sitting on the ground beside Dick. whose expression shows a trace of a smile. His cap is tilted to one side, giving a glimpse of his heavy crop of hair.''
So there it is: the faint echoes down the long corridor of the years. One wonders what that direct, dark gaze would have made of the world after the Great War.
Perhaps the last faint echo is the best. In Lamaline lives a distant cousin of the Corporal's, Mr. W.T. Pitman. He is well over eighty but still has that far ranging gaze that Major Frost speaks of as typical of Dick Pitman - perhaps it occurs most among men who have their daily business in great waters. He spoke of his own service with the Royal Navy in the First War, and that of his son with the fleet in the second round from 1939 to 1945.
"I remember the last time I saw Dick", he said. "It was early in August 1914 - I was going to sea and I'd heard that he'd joined the Army. He came up that road outside the house there and we had a few words together." He indicated the dirt road that straggles around the bay: it was a blazing hot afternoon and the sun was reflected blindingly off the sea just beyond the road. "It was a day like this, I remember, I can almost see him now, going up the road out there with a pretty girl on his arm."
There are worse ways to be remembered.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The following information comes from A Blue Puttee at War and could be the words of Ed Roberts in some instances as it is difficult to tell when he is interjecting information and when the information comes from Major Frost's own memoirs:
Dick Pittman [sic] (Reg. No. 400): Of Lamaline, served a term in the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve before the War but chose the Army for a change. Eight years older than I, he was tall, powerful, hardy, thoughtful, sober-minded, and reserved until one got to know him, entirely trustworthy and an excellent soldier. Served at Gallipoli, promoted to Corporal, killed in battle while leading his Section, 1 July 1916. His body was never found, and his name is inscribed on the Beaumont Hamel Memorial. I had the utmost respect for Dick and within a short time after enlistment I counted him as one of my best friends. We shall hear more of him later.
Frost, Sydney (2014-11-10). A Blue Puttee at War: The Memoir of Captain Sydney Frost, MC (Kindle Locations 1005-1009). Flanker Press. Kindle Edition.
Following Cliff's (Jupp) promotion there was a rush to climb on the bandwagon. Dick Pittman [sic] (Reg. No. 400) was given his first stripe on 17 June and the others in our group accepted the responsibilities of Lance Corporal at a later date. My promotion to this exalted rank came on 14 July. [Pittman [sic] was killed at Beaumont Hamel; his name is on the Beaumont Hamel Memorial.]
Frost, Sydney (2014-11-10). A Blue Puttee at War: The Memoir of Captain Sydney Frost, MC (Kindle Locations 1858-1860). Flanker Press. Kindle Edition.
This next section is clearly written by Ed Roberts. It is a caption under a photo of Pitman:
Richard Pittman [sic] (Reg. No. 400), from the small outport of Lamaline on the Burin Peninsula, was another of Frost's tentmates at Pleasantville. He became a Lance Corporal on 17 June 1915. This picture was taken shortly thereafter, before he and his comrades left for Gallipoli. Promoted to the rank of Corporal in November 1915, he was evacuated from Suvla on 1 January 1916, one of the last Newfoundlanders to leave there, and then taken to a hospital in Malta. He rejoined the Battalion on 9 June 1916 and was killed in action on July the First. His name is inscribed upon the Memorial Plaques at Beaumont Hamel, as he has "no known grave."
Frost, Sydney (2014-11-10). A Blue Puttee at War: The Memoir of Captain Sydney Frost, MC (Kindle Locations 3157-3161). Flanker Press. Kindle Edition.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
210718:
Today by complete chance I discovered that his paybook is an eclectic bunch of files gathered together at The Rooms under MG 956, File 189 in Box 2.
This is entirely wrong. It should be either in the RNR Gallery at the Provincial Museum in The Rooms or in the RNR Regimental Museum.
See PDF copy in Media folder 564,2696
Living
Sex: M
Spouses and Children
1. Living Children: 1. LivingLiving
Sex: F
Parents
Father: Cornelius Pittman 1945 Mother: Hannah Lawlor 1945
Spouses and Children
1. *Con Curtis 1945 Marriage: Children: 1. LivingCornelius Pittman
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth Date: Christening: Death: Bef 7 May 2016 1945 Burial: Cause of Death:
Spouses and Children
1. *Hannah Lawlor 1945 Marriage: Children: 1. Living 2. Living 3. Living 4. Donald Joseph Pittman 5. Living
Home | Table of Contents | Surnames | Name List
This website was created 9 Apr 2026 with Legacy 10.0, a division of MyHeritage.com; content copyrighted and maintained by cjmorry@ncf.ca