Vital Statistics
George Pinsent: 1861 – 1932 GRO0341 (Shoe finisher and Publican, Leicester)
Elizabeth Norman: 1859 – 1932
Married: Leicester, Leicestershire: 1879
Children by Elizabeth Norman:
John Thomas Pinsent: 1880 – 1880
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1881 – xxxx
Florence Ada Pinsent: 1883 – 1959
Tom Pinsent: 1883 – 1935
George William Pinsent: 1885 – 1939
Louisa Pinsent: 1886 – 1973
Arthur Pinsent: 1889 – 1890
Clarice Pinsent: 1890 – xxxx
Gertrude Pinsent: 1894 – xxxx
Ivy Pinsent: 1895 – 1972
Horace James Pinsent: 1896 – 1972
Benjamin Charles Pinsent: 1900 – 1900
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0341
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George was the second eldest surviving son of John Pinsent by his wife, Elizabeth (née Johnson). He was born in Loughborough but he grew up and received his schooling in Leicester – after his parents had moved there in around 1869. His father had grown up in the shoe trade; however, he was a “shopkeeper” in the 1870s and he took over the management of the “Sir Robert Peel” beer house on Bedford Street in around 1882. His son George would have been a young man by then.
George and his brother Thomas Johnson Pinsent helped their father run the bar and supported him in his various sporting activities. They both tried their hand (actually feet) at “pedestrianism” (competitive walking) in the early 1880s. T. Pincent came in second in the first heat of Mr. S. Brierley’s 130 yards “All-England Handicap” held on the Victoria Grounds in Leicester in September 1881. His brother, G. Pincent came first in the second heat and lost by three-quarters of a yard in the final walk-off (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 10th September 1881). George participated in the sport until at least 1889 (Leicester Journal: Saturday 25th May 1889).
Thomas and George also helped their father organize dog races, in which the family’s greyhound (or perhaps whippet?) “Pincent’s Turpin” frequently took part and did well. George fired the starter’s pistol at Mr. J. Pincent’s “200 Yards’ dog handicap” held on the Victoria Grounds on 6th May 1882. Pincent’s Turpin won his heat on that occasion and the family was back the following week for the final run-off (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 6th May and Friday 12th May 1882). Whether John was a gambler I am not sure; however, both sports provided ample opportunity for a flutter and I am sure many did.
The Pincent family appears to have belonged to the “Honourable Order of Foresters” (Court of “Rising Star,”) and, at a lodge meeting and dinner held to honour one of their members (Bro. Hurst), we find that “during the evening some capital songs were given by Bros. T. Cave, G. Pincent, J. O. Cave, G. Fincher and others” (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 24th June 1882). Note that the spelling “Pincent” was, around then, frequently applied to the Leicester sub-branch of the family.
George followed his family into the shoe business and was a “shoe finisher” when he married Elizabeth Norman, the daughter of a local “fishmonger,” in 1879. The couple were living on Pares Street when the census takers came a’ calling in 1881. They had a large family – six sons and six daughters – in the years that followed. The girls all grew up and married but, sadly, only one of the three boys who survived infancy and got around to marrying had children – and that was not until after he had emigrated to Australia.
George was still finishing shoes when the next census was taken. He and his wife, Elizabeth, and their five remaining children (Elizabeth Pinsent (9), Tom Pinsent (8), Ada Pinsent (7), George (6), Louisa Pinsent (4) and “Florence” Pinsent – who was only three months old lived on Caroline Street. Perhaps the name “Florence” was misheard. In reality, their daughter went through life known by the name of “Gertrude”. Sadly, George had already lost two of his sons John Thomas Pinsent and Arthur Pinsent by then (1891).
After George’s father, John Pinsent, became landlord at the “Sir Robert Peel” beer house, his sons must have helped out and, in the process, learnt the trade. So, it is, perhaps, not that surprising that George switched from making shoes to commerce and eventually followed his father into pub management. George was still employed in the shoe business when his daughter Ivy Pinsent arrived in 1895 ; however, he had become a “master grocer and greengrocer,” living on Gas Street, when he reported the birth of his next son, Horace James Pinsent, the following year. The grocery business seems to have been a step on the road to his becoming a publican.
George was said to be a “licensed victualer” managing the “Old Ten Bells” public house at Sanvey Gate in Leicester when his youngest son Benjamin Charles Pinsent was born (and died) in 1900. According to the coroner, the child died of convulsions caused by improper feeding – although his mother insisted that at that age her other children had responded well to a diet of bread and sago (Midland Free Press: 21st April 1900).
The census the following year (1901) shows George and Elizabeth were living at the “Old Ten Bells” with their children Elizabeth (19), Tom (18), Florence Ada (17), George W. (15), Louisa (14) Clarice (11), Gertie (6), Ivy (5) and Horace (4). Why Tom was reported to be a year older than Florence Ada, I am not sure! Perhaps they were twins. The elder children were, with the exception of Louisa, involved in the shoe manufacturing business. Louisa was a “hosiery machine minder” and the younger ones were either at school or still at home. The family lived at Sanvey Gate until at least 1905 (Leicester Electoral Registers) when the powers-that-be decided to shut down the “Old Ten Bells.” George was left to negotiate his share of the L. 963 compensation allocated by the Leicester Licensing Authority for the closure and was awarded L. 150 – the remainder going to the owners, Brunt, Hucknall and Co. (Midland Free Press: 18th November 1905).
George and Elizabeth had moved on to the “Wagon and Horses” public house on Bedford Street by the time the 1911 census was taken. They were living there with their two sons, George (25) and Horace (14), and their three daughters Clarice (20), Gertie (16) and Ivy (15). The elder children were still tied to the shoe trade, but Clarice and Ivy had move on and become “tailoresses”. George and Elizabeth told the census takers that they had had nine children. Which is fair enough, I suppose, if you discount their three lost sons. Local directories, such as Kelly’s Directory for 1912, confirm that they had in fact moved to the “Wagon and Horses” beer house on Bedford Street in Belgrave Gate, which is in the Haymarket. They may have lived in the Belgrave area before, as George attended a Liberal party meeting called to select a candidate for Belgrave Ward in October 1908. He was a there as a concerned citizen (Leicester Daily Post: Saturday 10th October 1908).
George and Elizabeth had relocated from the “Wagon and Horses” to the “British Lion” public house in Russell Square by 1921. According to the census that year, he was a “licensed victualer” living at #14 Russell Square with his wife, Elizabeth, who was working as his assistant, and two of his younger children: Gertrude Gilbert (nee Pinsent) who was a “tailoress” employed by “Thornaloe and Clarkson, Wholesale Tailors” of Northampton Street and Horace James who was an “engineer’s fitter” employed by the “Imperial Typewriter Company.” Horace worked on London Street in Leicester. He would later joined the Army and give #14 Russell Square as his postal address. Interestingly, the 1921 census record shows that George and Elizabeth had a school-aged “adopted daughter,” Sarah Green, living with them.
George and Elizabeth’s daughter Clarice had married Arthur Griffin, a “tailor’s presser,” in 1912 and they were living on Upper Conduit Street in Leicester. There were no children. However, Clarice’s sister, Ivy, who was still to marry and was, at that time, an unemployed “baster” for “Hart and Leays” on Wimbledon Square, was living with them.
Tom Pinsent was – according to the records I have seen – Florence Ada Pinsent’s twin brother. They were both born in December 1883 while their father was living on Pares Street in Leicester, working as a “shoe finisher”. Nevertheless, most of the census records show that Tom was one year older than Florence. He may have been a troubled lad. Certainly, he was brought up in the “Borough Court” and fined 10s (or seven days in jail) for throwing stones in Great Central Street on 31st March 1899 (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 15th April 1899). Whether this was an active act of aggression or just plain vandalism is not stated. Tom periodically worked behind the bar at the “British Lion,” and he was called to testify in a case of burglary brought against Edward Steven and Henry Schofield in 1924. He, and several other witnesses, spoke to having (obviously unwittingly!) purchased stolen articles from one or other of the indicted prisoners (Grantham Journal: Saturday 13th September 1934). Tom said he bought at clock from Mr. Schofield for 5s, and agreed to hold on to a kit bag for him (Melton Mowbray Times and Vale of Belvoir Gazette: Friday 12th September 1924).
George was still living at the “British Lion” in 1925 (Kelly’s Directory) when he died in 1932. Elizabeth was granted administration of his estate. His effects were valued £379 5s 9d. She died later the same year and administration of her estate was granted to her eldest daughter’s husband, Thomas Alfred Anstee (Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration). Elizabeth’s will, which still survives, shows that she left thirty per cent of her estate to her daughter Elizabeth Anstee, fifteen percent to her second son, George William Pinsent and the remaining fifty five percent to her other children, “share and share alike”. Interestingly, she signed by (X) mark and not by signature (Leicestershire Wills and Probate Records: 1500-1939). Clearly, she grew up before the days of compulsory schooling.
Elizabeth Anstee’s husband was probably the “Thomas William Anstey” who applied for compensation for the forced closure of the public house. There was very little resistance to closure from the local “Compensation Authority” as “Alderman Parsons, for the Brewery Company, asserted that there had been complaints about the conduct of the house, and they had tried several times to get the tenant out. It was stated that from 1917 to 1932 the licensee was George Pincent. When he died the house was carried on by his widow who died a few months later. She left a will making William Ansley her heir, and the claim was on his behalf”. It was deemed to be worth £400 (Leicester Evening Mail: Saturday 17th June 1933).
Son Tom was a “shoe hand” when living with his parents at the “Old Ten Bells” public house on Sanvey Street at the time of the Census in 1901, and also when he married Portia Thompson, the daughter of a weaver, in 1905. I do not know of any children from their marriage. They were living on Great Holme Street in Leicester when the census was taken in 1911. He was still working in the shoe trade – apparently he painted the bottoms of shoes and Portia was working in a wool factory warehouse. I am not aware of Tom serving in the forces during the “First World War”. However, when the census takers next made their rounds, in 1921, they found that he had become a “storekeeper” employed by the “Triumph Motor Co. Ltd., Motor Cycle Manufacturers,” and that he was living on Goring Road in Coventry with his wife Portia. Tom seems to have returned to Leicester and moved into a house on Corporation Road in the Belgrave district sometime in the 1920s (England and Wales Electoral Registers: 1920 -1932). Perhaps he returned to help his aging father, George, run the “British Lion” public house before he died in 1932. Tom Pinsent died in Leicester Hospital three years later, in 1935. He was reported to be a “barman” at the time.
Tom’s widow, Portia, seems to have stayed on in Coventry. She was a “cook” who was still living on Goring Road when the 1939 Register was compiled at the start of the Second World War. She had moved to Glencoe Road by 1953 – the year she took a Canadian Pacific trip to Montreal, in Quebec on the “S.S. Empress of France” (Passenger Lists Leaving U.K: 1890 – 1960: FindmyPast.com). Perhaps she had relations in Canada. She was still living on Glencoe Road when she died in 1976 (Calendar: Index Wills and Administration: 1967 – 1995).
George and Elizabeth’s second surviving son, George William Pinsent, was born while his parents lived on Pares Street in 1885. He was brought up there and also on Caroline Street – after the family moved there. On leaving school, he like most of his family before him, went into the shoe trade. In 1901, the census takers found George William living with his parents and siblings at the “Old Ten Bells” public house on Sanvey Gate.
According to the 1911 Census, George William was still living with his parents at “Wagon and Horses” public house ten years on. However, Wright’s Directory for Leicester that year suggests that he was also either running (or resident at) the “Barkby Arms” on Bedford Street. This was one of Leicester’s lesser beer houses and it was shut down under the provisions of the “1911 Compensation Act”. Perhaps George William had been planning to become a publican.
George William Pinsent probably served with the South Staffordshire Regiment for the duration of the First World War. The British Army’s WWI Medal Rolls: 1914-1920 (Ancestry.com) show a private George Pinsent (Regt. Number 1927, 201965) was awarded the Victory and British campaign medals. It was most likely him; however, there are other possible candidates.
George William married Ada Vines (née Merson), a “hosiery hand” in August 1920. She was a widow who appears to have brought several children into the family. The couple had no children of their own – that I am aware of. According to the census records, George William was a “shoe hand and finisher” employed by “Stead and Simpsons Boot and Shoe Manufacturers” in Brook Street in 1921. He was living with his wife, Ada, who was a “hosiery hand” employed by “Billson & Son, Hosiery Manufacturers” of Church Gate in Leicester and her three daughters, Ada Vines (16), Lillian May Vines (14) and Nelly Vines (5), and her son Arthur Ernest Vines (13), at 118 Birstall Street in Leicester. Ada worked at “Billson & Son” alongside her mother and Lillian was a “Shoe hand in the stockroom” of “Walker Kempson Stevens, Boot and Shoe Manufacturers”, on Rutland Street. The two younger children were still at school.
Ada died at Leicester General Hospital in April 1937 and George William, sadly, committed suicide two years later. The war-time register, compiled in 1939, describes him as being an “unemployed (retired) boot and shoe bottom scourer.” He was a widower, living alone at #118 Birstall Road. According to an unspecified stepson (presumably Arthur Ernest Vines), “he was depressed since the war began, particularly because he could not go out in the black-out” (Leicester Daily Mercury: Saturday 16th December 1939). The coroner’s verdict was that the balance of his mind had been disturbed – as well it might be. He was obviously lonely.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860
Grandmother: Hannah Johnson: 1800 – 1871
PARENTS
Father: John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899
Mother: Elizabeth Johnson: 1837 – 1909
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Fanny Pinsent: 1820 – 1880
William Pinsent: 1822 – xxxx
Thomas Pinsent: 1824 – 1831
Caroline Pinsent: 1825 – 1864
James Pinsent: 1831 – 1902
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – 1833
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – xxxx
Henry Pinsent: 1838 – 1846
George Pinsent: 1839 – 1857
Charles Pinsent: 1842 – 1882
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Thomas Johnson Pinsent: 1856 – 1925
John Henry Pinsent: 1858 – 1861
George Pinsent: 1861 – 1932
John Arthur Pinsent: 1869 – 1930
Henry Pinsent: 1871 – 1939
William Horace Pinsent: 1874 – 1876
Horace Pinsent: 1879 – 1949
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