Family Branch: Tiverton

The Tiverton Branch of the family can be traced for at least ten generations back to a Thomas Pinsent of Tiverton, in East Devon, who was born in 1709. There is not much known about him, but he was probably the son of the John Pinsent who married Elizabeth Pennington in 1697. Thomas may have had a brother as an old history of Tiverton refers to a John Pinsent taking part in a riot in 1723. The affray was probably brought on by the increase in unemployment caused by the importation of serge cloth from Ireland. I do not know for sure; however I suspect our Thomas, who married Mary Knott in 1735, was also “in trade” in some form or other.

Some on-line sources [ancestry.com] suggest that Thomas’s father, John “senior,” was the son of the William Pinsent who married Elizabeth Helmore, in Tiverton, in 1663. This needs confirmation. The same on-line sources suggest that this particular William was Thomas and Julian Stidstone of Hennock’s youngest son – which brings us back to Huxbeare Barton, the source of two other family lines! Thomas’s oldest sons Robert and John Pinsent farmed at Huxbeare and Knighton (see DEVONPORT Branch) respectively and their brother another Thomas acquired a tannery in Bovey Tracey when he married Julian Wilmeade (see HENNOCK Branch). Thomas an Julian’s fourth son (William) was out of luck when it came to land but may well have received some money, left the parish and moved to Tiverton.

The immediate descent of the TIVERTON branch in Tiverton is complicated by the presence of several un-attributable co-lateral relations in the mid-1700s. However, Thomas and Mary (nee Knott) had a son, Thomas, who married Anne Wright in 1768 and the principal lines of descent that I know about go through their two sons, Benjamin and James. The former was a “carpenter” who married young and moved to London – where his descendants have lived into (at least relatively) modern times. The latter stayed on in Tiverton but one of his sons, Thomas, was a “cordwainer” (shoemaker) who married a girl from Loughborough in Leicestershire and moved to the Midlands.

Leicester was at the heart of the shoe-manufacturing business during the industrial revolution and Thomas’s three sons (James, John and Charles) and their respective offspring worked in and around the shoe trade until the Second World War. Most of the current Pinsent families in the United Kingdom come from the London or Leicestershire strands of the TIVERTON Branch of the family. 

More Information

For a brief look at the TIVERTON family tree check out the Branch Summary. For a closer look at how they lived, “notable members” (listed and marked with a “” below) have full biographies. Family members marked with “” are discussed in their fathers’ biographies.

Notable Members of the Tree

Adrian Pinsent, foreman finisher, shoe trade, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1864 – 1945.
Alfred Pinsent, commissionaire and receptionist, Benfleet, Essex, 1902 – 1977.
Alfred James Pinsent, soldier, welder, fitter and heating engineer, Wigan, Lancashire, 1920 – 1992.
Arthur Pinsent, lecturer in Education, University of Aberystwyth, Dyfed, 1888 – 1978.
Arthur Edward Thomas Pinsent, driver and mechanic, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1908 – 1964.
Arthur Edwin Pinsent, leather and cloth merchant, 1872 – 1938.
Arthur Ernest Pinsent, master grocer, Leicester, 1899 – 1969.
Benjamin Pinsent, carpenter, London, Middlesex, 1776 – 1819.
Benjamin Pinsent, carpenter, London, Middlesex, 1808 – xxxx.
Bernard Wilfred Pinsent, construction engineer, 1924 – 2009.
Bertram Pinsent, warehouseman, London, Middlesex, 1932 – 2003.
Bertram Horace Pinsent, commercial driver and warehouseman, London, Middlesex, 1904 – 1967.
Brian Pinsent, 1934 – 2000.
Brian Roy West Pinsent, research chemist, Bedford, Bedfordshire, 1925 – 1997.
Charles Pinsent, 1842 – 1882.
Charles William Pinsent, 1923 – 2001.
Ernest Pinsent, 1889 – 1966.
Ernest Pinsent, electrical engineer, Wigston, Leicestershire, 1926 – 2021.
Ernest Alfred Pinsent, 1877 – 1902.
Frank Pinsent, 1926 – 2001.
Frederick Henry Pinsent, motor mechanic/engineer, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1910 – 1999.
George Pinsent, 1861 – 1932.
George Albert Pinsent, soldier and pile-driver, 1924 – xxxx.
George Henry Pinsent, 1867 – 1934.
George Hibbard Pinsent, Methodist minister and store keeper, Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1879 – 1953.
Harold West Pinsent, businessman, Nottingham, 1900 – 1962.
Harry Pinsent, 1877 – 1905.
Harry Pinsent, 1896 – 1957.
Henry Pinsent, 1871 – 1939.
Herbert Frederick Pinsent, accountant, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1917 – 1992.
Horace Pinsent, 1879 – 1949.
Horace James Pinsent, 1896 – 1972.
James Pinsent, green-grocer and fruit market salesman, Hackney and Islingon, London, Middlesex, 1837 – 1912.
James Pinsent, soldier, publican and grocer, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1862 – 1936.
James Pinsent, soldier and coal miner, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1892 – 1972.
James Pinsent, 1831 – 1902.
James Pinsent, 1769 – 1833.
James Leonard Pinsent, 1908 – 1978.
James Walter Pinsent, district insurance manager, London Area, England, 1861 – 1948.
James William Pinsent, maintenance engineer, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1912 – 1999.
John Pinsent, cordwainer and publican, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1836 – 1899.
John Arthur Pinsent, 1869 – 1930.
John Arthur Pinsent, 1875 – 1942.
John Holt Pinsent, 1904 – 1970.
John Michael Pinsent, 1930 – 2004.
Joseph Benjamin Pinsent, 1865 – 1897.
Lawrence Pinsent, soldier, electrical engineer, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1899 – 1991.
Leonard Albert Walter Pinsent, 1916 – 1995.
Neville Pinsent, 1930 – 2006.
Neville Pinsent, 1932 – 2009.
Philip James Noel Pinsent, Lecturer in Veterinary Science, Liverpool, Lancashire, 1921 – 2007.
Sidney Henry Pinsent, 1895 – 1979.
Stephen Ernest Pinsent, 1957 – 2022.
Thomas Pinsent, 1738 – 1825.
Thomas Pinsent, soldier, carpenter and joiner, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1885 – 1976.
Thomas Pinsent, cordwainer, Loughborough, Leicestershire, 1795 – 1860.
Thomas Henry Pinsent, warehouseman, London, Middlesex, 1873 – 1910.
Thomas Johnson Pinsent, shoe-finisher and hair dresser, Leicester, 1856 – 1925.
Thomas William Pinsent, soldier, aircraftsman and postman, Thurrock, Essex, 1895 – 1974.
Thomas William Pinsent, 1912 – 1986.
Walter Pinsent, 1869 – 1950.
Walter Pinsent, 1897 – 1947.
Wilfred Pinsent, 1901 – 1970.
William George James Pinsent, grain and later spice merchant, London, Middlesex, 1892 – 1963.
William John Pinsent, Covent Garden fruit salesman, London, Middlesex, 1869 – 1918.
William Thomas James Pinsent, Spice Merchant, London, Middlesex, 1914 – 1996.

All Members of the Tree