Fred Pitt (1887-1966)
Researcher Chris Holderness met a great niece of Fred Pitt who told him that Fred, who was landlord of the Mariners Arms in Kings Lynn from 1919 to 1957, had played the dulcimer.
Frederick Leopold Pitt (1887-1966) had taken over the licence from his father Benjamin, who had originally taken on the licence of the Mariners Arms in 1913, a few months after his previous pub, The Blue Lion, had been closed as a result of the 1910 Licensing Act. The Blue Lion was evidently a run-down building, for in 1909 the roof had collapsed, nearly killing Fred and his brother John as they slept. Fred served in the Royal Fusiliers in World War One, and on his return, married the exuberantly named Zubah MacDonald Dack. His father died later the same year, and Fred took on the licence of the Mariners Arms on South Quay, where he also worked as a dock labourer. The pub was very large, as can be seen in the photo (the three-storey building with two sets of chimneys), and in the 1921 census, he was living there with his wife, mother, aunt, brother, sister and brother-in-law and two nephews plus a boarder. None of them is listed as running the pub, although both Fred and his brother were out-of-work at the time in their respective trades. The Mariners Arms closed in 1965, then later took on a new lease of life as a wine bar but is now residential premises.
Nothing is known about Fred Pitt’s instrument or his playing.
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