PITMAN-BUTLER, Peter

No Surname Rank Service Number

Date Of Death

Age Regiment/Service Nationality Grave/Memorial Ref.

Cemetery/Memorial Name

1 Pitman-Butler, Peter

Captain 45468 17/07/1940 29Royal Armoured Corps

United Kingdom P. 240

CAIRO WAR MEMORIAL CEMETERY

(Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

Peter was a Captain, 7th Queen’s Own Hussars, Royal Armoured Corps.

He was the son of Ernest Francis and Frances Isabel Pitman of Dyrham and brother of John Pitman and Honor Isabel Salmon (also commemorated here).

The Pitman brothers: (left to right): John (Jack), Christian E, Peter (Pitman Butler) and IJ (Jim).

Peter died, age 29, from wounds received in action in Libya on 17th July 1940. He was mentioned in Dispatches. He was buried in the Cairo War Cemetery, Egypt:

Cairo War Memorial Cemetery(Source: Commonwealth War Graves Commission

There is a memorial plaque in St Peter’s, Dyrham to him and his two siblings, who were killed during the war:

Memorial plaque to the Pitmans who died in World War 2

Badge of the Queen’s Own Hussars

The 7th Queen’s Own Hussars were involved in the North African Campaign in 1940.They were part of the 4th Armoured Brigade in the 7th Armoured Division (the Desert Rats).

Just before Peter’s death, his regiment was involved in fighting against the Italian Army on the border between Egypt and Libya. On 14th June, the 7th Hussars with a company of the King's Royal Rifle Corp and a battery of 4th Royal Horse Artillery had captured Fort Capuzzo. On 16th June, the regiment was involved in the first tank battle in the Western

Desert, which led to the Battle of Girba, in which an entire Italian infantry battalion and two companies of tanks were defeated. At the time of his death in July, the regiment was skirmishing in the desert around Fort Capuzzo.