Vital Statistics
Ronald Francis Pinsent: 1915 – 1983 GRO1604 (Sales Supervisor, Melbourne, Australia)
1. Wife (GRO1613)
Married: 1940: Melbourne, Victoria
2. Dorothy Unknown: xxxx – xxxx
Married: xxxx: Melbourne, Victoria
Family Branch: Australia
PinsentID: GRO1604
Ronald Francis Pinsent was the second son of Arthur Henry Pinsent by his wife Catherine Mary (née Lynch). He was born in Middle Park in Melbourne in 1915 and grew up there with three brothers and a sister. They attended the “Middle Park Central School” and Ronald was a member of the school choir when it won the “A.N.A. Shield” in 1927. There is a photograph of the choir in one of the local newspapers (The Record: Emerald City: Saturday 1st October 1927).
Ronald’s father was a well-known cricketer in Middle Park in the 1920s and his elder brother Norman Pinsent and an “A. Pinsent” played for Middle Park in a match against the “Lands Department” in February 1934 (Melbourne Argus: Monday 26th February 1934). In this case, the A. Pinsent was probably Ronald’s younger brother Allan Henry Pinsent. He was a good player and we know he was chosen to play for a “Victoria Junior Cricket Association” team in Perth, West Australia, over the Christmas break in 1941 (The Western Australian: Saturday 15th November 1941). Ronald may also have played, although perhaps without the enthusiasm of his father or his brothers.
Ronald Francis seems to have been more interested in cycling. He joined the “South Melbourne Amateur Cycling Club” and participated in both long (30 and 15 mile) and short (5 and 1 mile) handicapped competitive races run out of Oakleigh in Melbourne between 1933 (Sporting Globe: Saturday 8th July 1933) and 1937 (The Age: Wednesday 15th May 1935: The Age: Tuesday 15th December 1936). Ronald seems to have been a good competitive cyclist (The Age: Monday 13th December 1937). Unfortunately, any future he may have had in the sport was probably stymied by an injury he received in a road accident that occurred at the corner of Park and Ferrar Streets in South Melbourne in February 1938. He was in the sidecar of a motorcycle that was hit from behind by a motorcar. The motorcycle was stationary when it was hit. Ronald’s friend, Donald Emmet, who was driving the motorcycle, suffered only minor injuries but his father who was with Ronald in the sidecar, was thrown to the pavement and fractured his skull. Ronald received lacerations to his chest and an injury to his ankle (The Argus: Tuesday 1st February 1938). The driver of the car was later charged and convicted of driving while intoxicated. He was fined and had his license cancelled (Record: Saturday 9th April 1938).
Ronald’s grandmother, Annie Edith (née Miller) – the erstwhile owner of the “The Pinsent Hotel” in Wangaratta – died in October 1936 and her children and grandchildren (and her Miller relations) dutifully sent “In Memoriam” notices of remembrance to the press for several years thereafter (Melbourne Argus: Wednesday 9th October 1940). The Pinsent family lived on “Charnwood Crescent” in St. Kilda, in South Melbourne before the “Second World War”. Ronald’s father was a (presumably commercial) “traveler”, his elder brother Norman was a (sales) “assistant” and he himself was a “salesman” (Australian Electoral Rolls: 1903 – 1980: Ancestry.com).
Ronald Francis married Wife (GRO1613) in 1940 and they moved to “Wheatland Road”, in Gardiner the following year. The Electoral Rolls show that Ronald was an “engineer” of some sort (Australian Electoral Rolls: 1941). In fact, he was probably a “motor mechanic”. If not, he was soon to become one. Ronald joined the “Australian Air Force” in June 1942 and was a “Leading Aircraftsman” when discharged from “No. 1 Aircraft Depot” in June 1946 (Australian World War II Nominal Roll: (1939 – 1945: Myheritage.com). I do not know if he served overseas; however, he may not as he was still reported to be living on “Wheatfield” Road when the Electoral Rolls were compiled in 1943 and 1946.
Ronald and Wife (GRO1613) had no children that I am aware of. However, they appear to have separated after the war. The Electoral Rolls show that Ronald Francis Pinsent (a “Dispatch Supervisor”) and Wife (GRO1613) were living on “Lawson Street” in Preston in 1949; however, his entry is crossed out and it is clear from another found elsewhere that he was back living with his parents on “Charnwood Crescent” by 1953. He gave “Charnwood Crescent” as his home address when he headed out to Western Australia on the “S. S. Otranto” in September 1953. He was (nominally at least) at least, still living at his parent’s home in 1954.
Ronald seems to have taken a trip to New Zealand shortly after separating from his wife. A ship’s manifest from June 1950 shows that he went alone (New Zealand Archives: New Zealand Passenger Lists 1839 – 1973). He later went to America, at least in part to see his aunt Mary Elizabeth Cypher (née Pinsent) – if she was still alive then – and to visit with her family. Mary Elizabeth would have been in her sixties. He embarked on the “S.S. Queen Elizabeth” in Southampton in September 1952 bound for New York. According to the manifest, he was heading for Borger, in Texas. (Travel Manifest: Myheritage.com).
Ronald remarried either in the late 1950s or very early 1960s and he returned from Western Australia with a new wife, Dorothy, on the P. O. liner “S.S. Canberra” in October 1962 (Fremantle, Western Australia Passenger Lists: 1897 – 1963). The couple gave their home address as “15 Elora Road”, S. Oakleigh, in Melbourne. According to the Electoral Rolls, it was to be their home until at 1972 or later. Ronald was listed as a “supervisor” and Dorothy a “teacher.”
Ronald and Dorothy moved to Mentone, a coastal subdivision southeast of Melbourne sometime in the mid-1970s – possibly after his retirement. They lived on “Balcombe Road” there, from at least 1977 until the early 1980s.
Ronald had not forgotten his American cousins and he made at least one more trip to see them. He took Dorothy out to America in 1982. It was to be his last. On 28th April 1983, a local newspaper in Farmington, New Mexico, reported that: “Word has been received here of the death of Ronald F. Pinsent of Melbourne, Australia, who has visited Farmington several times. Pinsent, 67, died suddenly Tuesday morning. He was a cousin of Val Cooper of Farmington. Pinsent and his wife Dorothy last visited her last August.” (MyHeritage.com). Ronald had, indeed, died in Cheltenham, yet another suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. His wife, Dorothy presumably died there sometime later. They had no children that I know about.
Family Branch
Grandparents
Grandfather: Joseph Henry Pinsent: 1863 – 1945
Grandmother: Annie Edith Miller: xxxx – 1936
Parents
Father: Arthur Henry Pinsent: 1886 – 1971
Mother: Catherine Mary Lynch: xxxx – 1972
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Arthur Henry Pinsent: 1886 – 1971
Mary Elizabeth Pinsent: 1889 – xxxx
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Norman Arthur Pinsent: 1914 – xxxx
Ronald Francis Pinsent: 1915 – 1983
Allan Henry Pinsent: 1917 – 2002
Arthur James Pinsent: 1921 – 2000
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