Private F. PITTAWAY (c.1876–1898)

F. Pittaway was born in 1875/6 according to the age given on his gravestone.

It seems very likely that he was the Frederick Pittaway who was born in Enstone in Oxfordshire in 1873 and baptised there on 19 October. His parents were the shepherd William Pittaway and Sarah Reynolds, who were married at Asthall in Oxfordshire on 14 January 1854, and he had eight siblings. At the time of the 1881 census when he was a schoolboy aged seven he was living with his family at Whichford in Warwickshire. By 1891 he was living with his family at Fulbrook in Oxfordshire: aged 17, he was working as a farm labourer, while his father was now a general labourer. He then vanishes from the censuses, which strengthens the case that he joined the army.

In 1897/8 F. Pittaway served as a Private in the C Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry (regimental no. 4707) both on the Punjab Frontier and at Tirah .

He died of disease at Landi Kotal on 29 June 1898: see his grave. The gravestone gives his age at death as 22, but if he was the Frederick Pittaway identified above he was actually 24.

He was posthumously awarded the India Medal with two clasps.