Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Memorial Plaque (2) (Reginald Abbott Bunell [sic] Pitcher; William Lambkin) the first polished, the second with some small verdigris spots, otherwise very fine (2) £70-£90

Reginald Abbott Burrell Pitcher was born in Warbleton, Sussex on 17 July 1871, and having emigrated to Canada was living in Balmoral, Manitoba, when he attested for service with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 30 March 1916. He was accepted even though he was in his mid-40s and was given a clean bill of health (apart from missing a toe), serving during the Great War on the Western Front. He survived the War and returned to Canada; however, by 1921 his health had deteriorated and he died at Westminster Hospital, London, Ontario on 12 February 1921, with the immediate cause of death listed as ‘cochexia’, a muscle wasting disease that has been associated with mustard gas poisoning. His ‘Circumstances of Casualty’ form states ‘Death due to service’, and he is buried in London (Mount Pleasant) Cemetery, Ontario. At the age of 49 he was one of the oldest recipients of a Memorial Plaque.

Two men with the name William Lambkin appear on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Roll of Honour: A Lance-Corporal in the East Kent Regiment who was killed in action on the Western Front on 9 August 1915; and a Quartermaster Sergeant in the Canadian Ordnance Corps who died at home in Canada on 30 May 1917.