Vital Statistics
John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899 GRO0501 (Cordwainer & Publican, Leicester, Leicestershire)
Elizabeth Johnson: 1837 – 1909
Married: 1855: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, 1855
Children by Elizabeth Johnson:
Sarah Jane Pinsent: 1855 – 1855
Thomas Johnson Pinsent: 1856 – 1925 (Married (1) Sarah Ann Ellis, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1875; (2) Caroline Deakin, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1883; (3) Emma Jarvis, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1922)
John Henry Pinsent: 1858 – 1861
George Pinsent: 1861 – 1932 (Married Elizabeth Norman, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1879)
Eliza Pinsent: 1863 – xxxx * (Married William Berry: Leicester, Leicestershire: 1883)
Louisa Pinsent: 1865 – 1945 (Married Walter Veasey, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1892)
Ada Pinsent: 1867 – xxxx (Married Henry Andrew Elliott, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1889)
John Arthur Pinsent: 1869 – 1930 (Married Harriet Hunt, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1891)
Henry Pinsent: 1871 – 1939 (Married (1) Elizabeth Phillis, Leicester, Leicestershire; (2) Lydia Spriggs, Leicester, Leicestershire 1914)
William Horace Pinsent: 1874 – 1876
Horace Pinsent: 1879 – 1949 (Married Eveline Maude Holt, Leicester, Leicestershire, 1903)
*Eliza’s illegitimate child: Bertie Major Pinsent: 1881 – 1881
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0501
John was the second (known) surviving son of Thomas Pinsent of Tiverton by his wife Hannah (née Johnson). He was born shortly after his parents moved to Loughborough, in Leicestershire, and he grew up there as part of a family of four girls and seven boys. He was one of three surviving brothers that between them established the Leicestershire sub-branch of the TIVERTON branch of the Pinsent family tree. John’s brother James Pinsent was five years older and his brother Charles Pinsent five years younger.
Census and birth records show that the family was living on Holland Street in the 1840s. However, it had moved to Barrow Street by 1851 (Census) and could be found on South Bond Street the following year. John followed his father into the shoe trade and was a 20-years old “cordwainer” when he married Elizabeth Johnson, the daughter of a Nottinghamshire farmer in 1855. Perhaps Elizabeth was related to John’s mother, Hannah (née Johnson); however, what the relationship was, I don’t know.
John and Elizabeth started out their married life in Loughborough. The 1861 Census shows that they were living on Wellington Road with their two young sons, Thomas Johnson Pinsent (4) and George Pinsent (two months). Another daughter (Sarah Jane Pinsent) and another son (John Henry Pinsent) had died (Leicestershire Mercury: Saturday 13th April 1861). John and Elizabeth went on to have three more girls (Elizabeth, Louisa and Ada Pinsent) and four more boys (John Arthur, Henry, William Horace and Horace Pinsent) in the years that followed.
John and Elizabeth moved to Leicester in around 1868/9 – presumably to be close to John’s brother James Pinsent and his family. He had moved there in around 1863. Perhaps surprisingly, given the nature of the times, only one of John’s younger sons (William Horace Pinsent) died young. In all, five of the boys (Thomas Johnson, George, John Arthur, Henry (a.k.a. Harry) and Horace) married and had children. Their lives are described elsewhere. The surviving daughters also married.
I have been unable to locate the family in the 1871 Census; however, I know from John’s elder children’s marriage data that he was a “shoe-finisher” in the 1870s. The 1881 Census data collected a decade later confirms that John was a “shoe-hand” living on Birstall Street, in St. Margaret’s Parish, in Leicester with his wife Elizabeth and their as yet unmarried daughters, Eliza (18), Louisa (16) and Ada Pinsent (14) – all of whom were “shoe fitters,” – and with his younger sons, John A. (11), Harry (9) and Horace Pinsent (2). His daughter Eliza must have been pregnant at the time as shad an illegitimate son, Bertie Major Pinsent in July 1881. The child died a few weeks later. Eliza went on to marry William Perry in July 1883. I do not know if William had been the father of her child or not. Louisa married a (house) “painter” in 1892 and Ada married a “hairdresser” in 1889.
John gave up boot and shoe making in the 1870s and kept a shop on the Birstall Road (Kelly’s Directory: 1881). After that, he took over the management of the “Sir Robert Peel” Beer house on Bedford Street. The Commercial Gazette (Thursday, February 2nd 1882), tells us that John Pinsent “boot-finisher and beer house keeper” transferred title of the beer house to “Frederick Bates and another” on 31st January 1882. However, if he did, it must have been a short-term arrangement as John and Elizabeth ran the beer house well into the 1890s (1891 Census). It was licensed to sell wines and spirits as well as beer (Commercial Gazette: Wednesday 9th November 1892). There is an old photograph of John’s beer house on the corner of Bedford and Fennel Streets, on the: pubhistoryproject.co.uk website. The modern-day “Sir Robert Peel” hostelry in Leicester is a different establishment.
John may have taken up the sport of “pedestrianism” (competitive walking) in the 1870s. Certainly there was a Pincent active in it in Leicester in the early years of the decade – and evidently quite good at it. “The trial heats for Mr. Smith’s 115 yards Leicestershire Handicap of £10 took place on these grounds on Saturday afternoon last. The attendance of spectators was not large. … Heat 12: Pinsent, 16 ½; T. F. Peake, 15; C. Mason, 16; Pinsent won easy … The sport was rather above the average, the starting was very good and some excellent races were witnessed. The deciding heats will be run tomorrow (Saturday)” (Leicester Journal: Friday 30th May 1873). There is no proof that this was John; however, his sons Thomas Johnson Pinsent and George Pinsent clearly took up the sport in the 1880s (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 10th September 1881 and Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 22nd October 1881).
John Pinsent owned a whippet or greyhound by the name of “Pincent’s Turpin” in the early 1880s. He first puts in an appearance as a (7 months) old contestant in 1880, when he showed some potential, winning his heat (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 18th December 1880). John helped organize “dog’s handicap” races at the various tracks in and around Leicester. At one, a 200-yards’ handicap, held at the Victoria Grounds in May 1882, 69 dogs competed through a series of heats for £6 in prize money. John’s elder sons helped run the event. Thomas Pinsent acted as “marksman” and George Pinsent fired the starting pistol (Leicester Chronicle: Wednesday 3rd May 1882). Turpin had done better at a Peacock Ground event organized by a Mr. Richardson in March 1881. It survived the heats and went on to win by half a length from (Clarke’s) Violet. Turpin won the race by half a yard (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 12th March 1881).
Turpin later fought his way through to the final of a similar race organized by a Mr. Mason at the end of October 1883. On that occasion, there was a dead heat between Pincent’s Turpin and Newbold’s Jim in the final heat. Sadly, Jim won the run-off (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 7th October 1883). Eighty dogs turned out for a similar 200-yards’ dog handicap that J. Pinsent organized at the Belgrave Road Grounds the following year. The heats were run at the end of March (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 5th April 1884) and the final was run in the first week of April. John’s son George was appointed the “marksman” for the final heat that saw Percival’s Lue beat Clarke’s Violet, Lacey’ Gip and Gilford’s Nigger (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 12th April 1884). Turpin was joined by a racing companion, “Pinsent’s Luce”, in 1882 – so he had at least one kennel companion (Leicester Daily Mercury: Monday 6th November 1882).
John and Elizabeth were still running the “Sir Robert Peel Inn”, on Bedford Street in Leicester in 1891. The Census shows that they lived in, and that they still had three of their children with them. They were Louisa (26) who was a “shoe fitter”, John A. (22) a “shoe-rivetter” and Horace (12) a “schoolboy”. Doubtless all his children helped out in the pub. According to the conventions of the day, children were put out to work when they were around twelve years old.
The “Sir Robert Peel” beer house, predictably, came to the attention of the Magistrates now and again. Alfred Hallam was brought up at the Police Court in May 1888 charged with having stolen half a crown (2s 6d) from John Pinsent through a misunderstanding that had occurred in the bar. Evidently, John’s wife, Elizabeth had asked him (John) to give the coin to “Alf” as part of his change. John gave it to the wrong “Alf” and when he later asked him to return the coin Mr. Hallam refused. He said he had never received it. However, he eventually confessed to the police and John asked for leniency (Leicester Journal: Friday 4th May 1888). It pays to keep on the good side of your customers.
The Commercial Gazette confirms that John Pinsent was still running the beer house in 1892 (Commercial Gazette: Wednesday 9th November 1892). In May 1894, at another court appearance, John was asked to explain how a shoe-hand, (George Burley) had become so drunk and disorderly that he had refused to leave the premises until the police intervened. John argued that he had sold beer to Burley’s friends and they must have given him more than he could handle … . Mr. Burley claimed that some woman had thrown a pint of beer over him and, besides, the landlord and the rest of the house were the worse for wear too. Mr. Burley was a frequent offender, so the Magistrates fined him 5s or five days in jail. The police constable who helped out, said that John was, in fact, sober. Nevertheless, the Magistrates asked the police to keep a watch on his house (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 12th May 1894).
John seems to have been a great promoter of social activity and he was probably the J. Pinsent who held a “Bird Singing Competition” at the Milkmaid Inn on Bedford Street in 1898 ((Leicester Sporting News: 17th December 1898). He was 63 years old when he died on the 12th August the following year. After his death, his widow, Elizabeth (née Johnson), and her family moved to Southdown Road with at least two of her sons, John and Horace. John Henry must have been the shoe hand from Southdown Road who saved a three years old boy who was drowning near the Abbey Meadow bathing station in 1903 (Midland Free Press: 13th June 1903). Elizabeth died in Leicester in 1909.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: James Pinsent: 1769 – 1833
Grandmother: Hannah Brimson: 1766 – xxxx
PARENTS
Father: Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860
Mother: Hannah Johnson: 1800 – 1871
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
William Pinsent: 1792 – 1844
Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860 ✔️
Anne Pinsent: 1799 – 1801
Richard Pinsent: 1799 – xxxx
Fanny Pinsent: 1804 – xxxx
Jane Pinsent: 1804 – xxxx
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
William Pinsent: 1822 – xxxx
Thomas Pinsent: 1824 – 1831
James Pinsent: 1831 – 1902
John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899 ✔️
Henry Pinsent: 1838 – 1846
George Pinsent: 1839 – 1857
Charles Pinsent: 1842 – 1882
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