Cecil Frederick Pettit

Private, East Surrey Regiment

Cecil Frederick Pettit was a student at Alleyn’s until 1915 and lived at 274 Friern Road, East Dulwich with his great grandmother, Jane, his grandmother, Harriet, and his aunt, Clarissa. After leaving school, he found work as a clerk before deciding to join the war effort in May 1917. Enlistment standards had recently been lowered again allowing Cecil, who stood at only 5ft 2inches, to meet the required enlistment standards and be declared as fit for service. After being attested, Cecil was attached to the East Surrey Regiment as a Private and was sent for service overseas on the Western Front. In 1918, he was serving in France during the German Spring Offensive when he was killed instantaneously by a shell on 20^th May 1918. After the end of the war, his family received the British War and Victory Medal on his behalf.