Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Boer War and Great War group of six awarded to Captain W. A. H. Pitt, Labour Corps, late Royal Field Artillery, who was mentioned in despatches for his gallantry during the Victoria Cross action on Tafel Kop in 1901 and who landed with the British Expeditionary Force in France on 12 August 1914 as a civilian attached to the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (83525 Sgt. W. A. H. Pitt, 39th Bty. R.F.A.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps, South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902 (83525 Serjt. W. Pitt, R.F.A.); 1914 Star, copy clasp (Capt. W. A. H. Pitt), renamed; British War and Victory Medals (Capt. W. A. H. Pitt); Army L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (83525 Sjt. W. A. H. Pitt, R.F.A.), mounted as worn, together with a set of related miniature dress medals, the first two a little polished, otherwise very fine or better (12) £400-500

On 20 December 1901 General Wessels achieved one of the most notable ruses de guerre of the Boer War. In doing so, he inflicted severe losses on the advance guard of Colonel Damant’s column operating in the Orange River Colony. Out of a total British force of 95 in action, 75 were killed and wounded. Colonel Damant was wounded in four places. Shoeing-Smith Ind of the Royal Horse Artillery was awarded the Victoria Cross and Sergeant Pitt, serving with 39th Battery, R.F.A. and one of the 20 unwounded survivors, was mentioned in despatches ‘for gallantry’. The action is described in Creswicke’s South Africa and the Transvaal War (Volume VII):
 
‘Before De Wet enjoyed the short-lived triumph of Christmas Day, Wessels, in the neighbourhood of Tafel Kop, had distinguished himself on the 20th. The troops of Colonels Rimington and Damant were moving by night in a fierce thunderstorm by parallel roads three miles apart to cover an extension of the blockhouse line. Damant’s advance guard beheld suddenly a force approaching. This force was khaki clad, and affected the formation usual with regular mounted troops. They also, as they advanced, fired volleys in the direction of some Boers who were escaping across the front of two British forces. Naturally our men were deceived, and this clever ruse enabled the Dutchmen to seize the crest which commanded the whole field and also the guns and the main body of our troops. But even in their inferior position Damant’s gallant fellows fought nobly and tenaciously to save the guns which accompanied the advance guard – so nobly, indeed, that every officer and man, except four, of the leading troops were shot down before reinforcements from the main body and Colonel Rimington’s column came to the rescue. When these loomed in the distance the Boers wisely relinquished their attack, and fled over the Wilge pursued for many miles by Rimington’s troops.’
 
The force attacked was the centre of Colonel Damant’s extended line, numbering 95 men:  Colonel Damant himself, his staff, two guns of 39th Battery, R.F.A., a “Pom-Pom”, a Maxim and the gun escort. H. W. Wilson described the fighting in more vivid detail in After Pretoria: The Guerilla War:
 
‘The British guns arrived on the ridge and were ordered to fire on the enemy on the further ridge. Two shots were discharged, when a party of 200 Boers suddenly broke forth from some long grass which waved close to the guns, and charged. At the same moment the supposed British troopers on the left rushed the at the guns with cheers and shouts. The weapons opened up on them with case, but it was now too late. Damant saw what was coming, and, as he realised that it was impossible to get the guns away, he directed the limbers at least to be removed that the enemy might secure no ammunition. The fire of the Boers was murderous; the artillerymen round the guns were dropping fast, though there was no sign whatever of the men giving way; and it was no easy task to collect sufficient drivers to with draw the limbers. Lieutenant Maturin, of the Royal Artillery, though wounded severely in the stomach, attempted to achieve this and was for it awarded the D.S.O. which his extreme gallantry so richly merited.
 
The fighting was of the most desperate nature. Many though the laurels are which crown the record of the artillery in this war – though in nearly every disastrous engagement we have been able to record their superb behavior – yet it is impossible to deny that here they equalled or even surpassed themselves. So stubborn a front was shown that for a moment the Boers recoiled and fell back, but this was only to approach from another direction. They crept up the hill in hundreds and once more assailed the the attenuated band of British soldiers on the summit. All the gunners were shot down except two men; all the “Pom-Pom” detachment were killed; the Yeomanry escort round the guns fought to the last, and were to a man placed hors de combat.’
 
When at last the enemy rushed the guns there was a horrible scene of cruelty and murder. The shameful atrocities of Vlakfontein and Graspan were outdone, and a saturnalia of savagery reigned on this ridge of death … The enemy were unable to use their victory. The gallantry of the drivers of the artillery in removing the limbers had made it impossible to carry off the guns; the team of the “Pom-Pom” had been shot down; the Maxim was of no great use to the Boers. Nor were they to be left unmolested in their work of slaughter. Far off, other officers and men in the line of troops had noted that the guns were firing at their very fastest, and that the shells exploded as they left the muzzles. That meant the artillery were firing case to repel a charge. Headed by Captain Webb, a squadron rode into the centre, to the rescue. Scott of Damant’s Horse, followed with another squadron, and behind him came thundering the 30th Yeomanry ... ‘
 
William Alfred Henry Pitt was born in Norwich in August 1873 and served in the Royal Artillery for 22 years (1890-1912). He was awarded a gratuity for his gallantry and his conduct was exemplary. On completing his 22-years military service he was appointed the Mess Steward of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards which was a civilian position, as was the custom in the Guards. He accompanied the 2nd Battalion when they sailed to France as part of 4th Guards Brigade, British Expeditionary Force and landed with them on 12 August 1914. The 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards distinguished themselves during the Retreat from Mons, especially at the actions at Landrecies and Villers-Cotteret. Pitt re-enlisted in the Royal Artillery at Woolwich on 21 July 1915. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and became the acting Battery Sergeant-Major of 183 (Hampstead) Brigade, R.F.A. on the day he enlisted. He was subsequently promoted to R.S.M. (W.O. 1) in January 1916. He returned to France in May 1916 with 183 Brigade, R.F.A., who were part of the 41st Division of Kitchener’s New Army. In November 1916 he was posted as R.S.M. of 190th Brigade, R.F.A. and in March 1917 of 14 Brigade, R.H.A. In August 1918 he was commissioned in the Labour Corps and ended the war as an acting Captain, commanding a Prisoner of War Labour Company. Pitt was demobilized in 1919. In March 1919, the Officer Commanding the Coldstream Guards applied to the War Office for his 1914 star. However, and much to his obvious offence, he was ruled ineligible as he had been with the B.E.F. as a civilian employed by the Coldstream Guards not the War Office.
 
Sold with an original signed and stamped copy of the recipient’s ‘mention’ entry in The London Gazette 25 April 1902, as sent to him by the Gazette’s publishers in October 1909, together with an original studio portrait photograph and copied research.