Thomas Tait Pitman | |
---|---|
Born | 22 December 1868 |
Died | 8 March 1941 72) | (aged
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Rank | Major-General |
Commands held | 48th (South Midland) Division 2nd Cavalry Division 4th Cavalry Brigade 11th Hussars |
Battles/wars | Second Boer War First World War |
Awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Mentioned in Despatches (6) |
Major General Thomas Tait Pitman, CB , CMG , JP (22 December 1868 – 8 March 1941) was a British cavalry officer, who was a general officer during the First World War. [1] [2]
Thomas Tait Pitman was born on 22 December 1868, the son of Frederick Pitman, Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh. He was one of eight brothers, including Frederick Islay Pitman and Charles Murray Pitman. In 1920 he married Violet Mary, only daughter of Sir Michael Lakin, 1st Baronet. He died on 8 March 1941. [3]
Pitman entered the British Army in 1889 and served with the 11th (Prince Albert's Own) Hussars for 26 years. He was commissioned a second lieutenant on 9 October 1889, was promoted to lieutenant on 6 April 1891, and to captain on 16 April 1895. [4] Seeing service in the North West Frontier campaign 1897–98, he then served in South Africa during the Second Boer War, where he was second-in-command of the 5th battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry. [5] For his service he was mentioned in despatches (dated 1 June 1902, where he is commended for good service at Brakspruit on 11 April 1902 [6] ). After the end of the war in June 1902, he left Cape Town in the SS Plassy in August, returning to Southampton the following month. [7] On his return he resigned from the Imperial Yeomanry and returned to his regiment. [5] [8]
By the outbreak of the First World War, Pitman was a lieutenant-colonel commanding the 11th Hussars and took them to the Western Front in August 1914. He was wounded at the Battle of Messines (1914). [9] Later, he commanded the 4th Cavalry Brigade (1915–16) [10] and the 2nd Cavalry Division (1918–19). [11] He then became General Officer Commanding 48th (South Midland) Division in April 1926 before retiring in April 1930. [12]
Pitman was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1915 [13] and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1918 [14] and was mentioned in despatches six times. [3] He was Honorary Colonel of the 11th Hussars from 17 February 1926 to 9 October 1939. [15]
The 1st Cavalry Division was a regular Division of the British Army during the First World War where it fought on the Western Front. During the Second World War it was a first line formation, formed from Yeomanry Regiments. It fought in the Middle East before being converted to the 10th Armoured Division.
The Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own) was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794 and again in 1803, which provided cavalry and mounted infantry in the Second Boer War and the First World War and provided two field artillery regiments of the Royal Artillery in the Second World War, before being amalgamated with the Derbyshire Yeomanry to form the Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry in 1957. The regiment's lineage is currently perpetuated by E (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) Squadron of the Royal Yeomanry.
General Sir William Eliot Peyton, was a British Army officer who served as Military Secretary to the British Expeditionary Force from 1916 to 1918. He was Delhi Herald of Arms Extraordinary at the time of the Delhi Durbar of 1911.
The 4th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, in the First World War on the Western Front where it was initially assigned to The Cavalry Division before spending most of the war with the 2nd Cavalry Division, and with the 1st Cavalry Division during the Second World War.
The South Irish Horse was a Special Reserve cavalry regiment of the British Army. Formed as an Imperial Yeomanry regiment in 1902 as the South of Ireland Imperial Yeomanry, it perpetuated a unit formed during the Second Boer War. It transferred to the Special Reserve (Cavalry) in 1908 and was renamed as the South Irish Horse. Having taken part in the fighting of World War I, it was disbanded after Irish Independence in 1922.
The 2nd Cavalry Division was a division of the regular British Army that saw service in the Peninsular War and in World War I, when it also known as Gough's Command, after its commanding general. It was part of the British Expeditionary Force that served in France in from 1914 to 1918. It was involved in most of the major actions where cavalry were used as a mounted mobile force, and also many where the troops were dismounted and effectively served as infantry.
The Yorkshire Hussars was an auxiliary unit of the British Army formed in 1794. The regiment was formed as volunteer cavalry (Yeomanry) in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars and served in the Second Boer War and the First World War. It was converted to an armoured role during the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with two other Yorkshire yeomanry regiments to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1794 to 1956. It was formed as a volunteer cavalry force in 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Its volunteer companies played an active role with the Imperial Yeomanry in the Second Boer War, but opportunities for mounted action were much more restricted during the First World War and it was temporarily converted into a cycle unit. It remained a cavalry regiment throughout the interwar years, and was the last horsed unit of the British Army to see action, in the Syria–Lebanon Campaign of 1941, finally mechanising the following year. It served as motorised infantry in the North African and Italian campaigns of the Second World War. In 1956, it merged with the Yorkshire Hussars and the East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry to form the Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry. Its lineage is continued today by A Squadron, the Queen's Own Yeomanry.
The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry was a unit of the British Army formed in 1902. Units of Yeomanry Cavalry were raised in the East Riding of Yorkshire in the 18th and early 19th centuries at times of national emergency: the Jacobite Rising of 1745, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. These were stood down once each emergency was over. The East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, was established in 1902, and this saw action during the First World War both in the mounted role and as machine gunners.
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The Welsh Horse Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army that served in the First World War. The regiment was raised shortly after the outbreak of the war. Initially it served in East Anglia on anti-invasion duties, before being dismounted in 1915 and sent to take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. After withdrawal to Egypt, it was amalgamated with the 1/1st Montgomeryshire Yeomanry as the 25th Battalion, Royal Welch Fusiliers and served as such throughout the rest of the war. It took part in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in 1917 and 1918, before being transferred to the Western Front where it remained until the end of the war. The regiment formed 2nd and 3rd Lines in 1914, but these never left the United Kingdom before being disbanded in 1916 and early 1917, respectively. The 1st Line was disbanded in 1919.
Brigadier-General John Tyson Wigan, was a senior British Army officer and later a Conservative Party politician. He served with the Desert Mounted Corps during World War I, and was wounded in action three times during campaigning at the Battle of Gallipoli and during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. He had previously been badly wounded in the Second Boer War.
The Royal North Devon Yeomanry was a Yeomanry regiment of the British Army. First raised in 1798, it participated in the Second Boer War and the First World War before being amalgamated with the Royal 1st Devon Yeomanry in 1920 to form the Royal Devon Yeomanry.
Lieutenant General Sir Charles Toler MacMorrough Kavanagh, was a British Army officer who commanded the Cavalry Corps during the First World War, most notably at the Battle of Amiens in 1918.
The 1st Cavalry Brigade was a brigade of the British Army. It served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Boer War and in the First World War when it was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division.
The 9th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army in World War I. It was formed in France in 1915 and served on the Western Front as part of the 1st Cavalry Division until the end of the war.
The 8th Cavalry Brigade was a cavalry brigade of the British Army in World War I. It was formed in Belgium in 1914 and served on the Western Front as part of the 3rd Cavalry Division. It left the 3rd Cavalry Division on 14 March 1918.
The First World War British Cavalry Corps was formed 9 October 1914.
Major-General John Vaughan, (1871–1956) was a cavalry officer in the 7th Hussars and the 10th Royal Hussars of the British Army.
Major-General Alfred Alexander Kennedy (1870–1926) was a British Army officer.