Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

PITCHER Cyril Frederick MB BS

1887-1955

Cyril Frederick Pitcher was born at Medindie, South Australia on the 14th June 1887, the third son of Rev John Garlick Pitcher J.P. and Mary, nee Butler who was the sister of a Premier of South Australia Sir Richard Butler and the aunt of Sir Richard Layton Butler who also became Premier of South Australia.  Pitcher was educated at St Peter’s College, and graduated in Medicine from the University of Adelaide in 1911. He served in the   militia as a captain in the Light Horse Field Ambulance in 1912 and the Reserve in 1913.  At the time of his enlistment in the AIF he was a medical practitioner at Victor Harbor.

He applied for a commission in the AIF on the 19th October 1914 as 27 years old, single and living at 23 Erskine St, Goodwood Park. He stood 6ft 1ins tall, and weighed 14st. He was single and his brother Ronald Owen Pitcher was his next of kin, later Mrs. Isabel Warren Elizabeth Pitcher, his wife, c/- W Gilchrist Esq, ”Marindalk”, Mulders  Vlei, Cape Colony, South Africa. He embarked from Brisbane with 2 LHFdAmb in December 1914. He did not go to Gallipoli with 2LHFdAmb when it first landed in May, but remained at Mudros. He went with the second landing on the 3rd Aug 1915, but was immediately detached to 3 Bn for three weeks and then to 5 LHR for 10 days.  Pitcher was evacuated to Egypt in September 1915 with sciatica, a condition with which he had suffered prior to enlistment. This was followed by jaundice. He was declared unfit for general duties for six months, and served with 1 ASH from March to August 1916. He was promoted major on 14th November 1916 and posted to 2 ACCS at Trois Arbres, France. Soon after the Battle of Messines, Pitcher developed renal disease, and was sent back to England. He rejoined his unit in August, but soon became ill again and was sent back to Australia in September 1917. He returned to England on the Borda in January 1918, but disembarked in Cape Town to spend 2 months with his older brother Richard Charles Pitcher who had enlisted in the South African medical corps as a private soldier. His brother had been in the 4 FdAmb with a short active service from February 1916 until he was diagnosed with carcinoma of the tongue from which he died on the 18th May 1919.  Pitcher reached London in April and, in October 1918, was posted to 3 AAH. He returned to France and joined 7 FdAmb. All five Australian divisions were then in the Fourth Army rest area around Abbeville, and in the first week of November moved up towards the front line again. They were spared further combat by the Armistice. Pitcher returned to London in January 1919, and sailed for Australia in February with his AIF appointment terminated on the 16th June 1919. Pitcher was issued with the 1914-15 Star, The British War Medal, and the Victory Medal

Pitcher set up practice at Hindmarsh, South Australia on his return. He was appointed as Hon Medical Officer to the Mareeba Babies’ Hospital, with Drs Helen Mayo and Frederick Neill Le Messurier in 1923 and they made a lifelong association. They contributed to important advances in the care of sick and particularly premature babies. He subsequently became Chairman of the Board of the Babies Hospital. He lived at Dutton Terrace, Medindie South Australia. Cyril Frederick Pitcher died in 12th May 1955 in Adelaide.

Source

Blood, Sweat and Fears: Medical Practitioners and Medical Students of South Australia, who Served in World War 1. 

Verco, Summers, Swain, Jelly. Open Books Howden, Adelaide 2014. 

Uploaded by Annette Summers AO RFD