He attended Borough Road College from 1901 to 1903 to train as a teacher and remained at the institution to study for degrees in languages and literature.

Pitt began a study of Anglo-Saxon literature in 1914 but left this to join the British Army and fight in the First World War.

[3] The college's records state that Pitt's attitude to study was "not very satisfactory", though he graduated with a class 1 teachers certificate and excelled in chemistry, physiology and agriculture.

Pitt's students' essays were compared favourably by Arthur Smith of Balliol College to the work done at the University of Oxford.

Before the conclusion of the work, Pitt decided to join the British Army, noting at the time that "all is naught compared with the war".

[2] Unusually for a time when next of kin were given sanitised versions of their loved ones' deaths, Pitt's widow, who was living in Hounslow, was told that his body was destroyed by the explosion and no trace of him could be found.

[9][1] Pitt's brigadier-general described him as the "embodiment of dash and pluck ... whenever the Germans appeared to be getting particularly annoyed, the men would say 'oh, it's that little trench mortar officer at them with his guns'".