Vital Statistics
Walter Pinsent: 1869 – 1950 GRO0872
Clara Black: 1873 – 1949
Married: 1893: Leicester, Leicestershire
Children by Clara Black:
Elizabeth Clarice Pinsent: 1894 – 1897
Charles William Pinsent: 1896 – 1918
Arthur Ernest Pinsent: 1899 – 1969
Wilfred Pinsent: 1901 – 1970
Hilda May Pinsent: 1904 – xxxx
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0872
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Walter was the second eldest son of Charles Pinsent by his wife, Susannah (née Bagshaw). He was born in Leicester and grew up with four sisters (Elizabeth, Annie, Harriet and Florence Pinsent) and two brothers (George Henry Pinsent and Ernest Alfred Pinsent) in St. Mary’s parish. Walter left school around the time his father died, in 1882, and he was reported to be a “boot heeler” living with his widowed mother and younger siblings on Ridley Street at the time of the Census in 1891.
Walter married Clara Black, the daughter of a “frame-work knitter” by banns in St. Mark’s parish church in Leicester two years later. His brother George Henry Pinsent was a witness. Walter and Clara lived on Harrington Street, in Leicester and they had their first three children (Elizabeth Clarice, Charles William and Arthur Ernest Pinsent) while they were there. Sadly, their first-born died young. Walter and Clara had moved to the Western Road with their other children by the time the 1901 census takers came around. Walter was a “shoe-finisher” and Clara ran a, home-based, grocery shop “on her own account”. She had two more children (Wilfred and Hilda May Pinsent) while she ran the shop in the early 1900s.
The family had moved to Martin Street by 1909 (Leicester Electoral Register) and that is where the census takers found them in 1911. Walter was still, nominally, a “shoe hand finisher” but Kelly’s Directories suggests that he was also working with his wife out of their home on Martin Street. They were described as “shopkeepers and beer retailers,” – so they also operated as an off-license.
Walter and Clara were still running the business in 1921 when that year’s census was compiled. Nevertheless, he described himself as being an “out of work shoe hand & finisher employed by Mr. Thornton Boot & Shoe Manufacturer of Yeoman’s Lane.” His wife said that she worked at home. Their sons Arthur Earnest Pinsent and Wilfred were said to be “shoe clickers” currently in the employ of the “Brandon Shoe Company of Brandon Street,” and “Fox and Co. of Occupation Road” respectively. Their daughter Hilda May, meanwhile, worked for “Robinson & Pickford Hosiery Manufacturers of Watling Street” as a “hosiery mender.” They lived on Martin Street but there is no mention of the shop or off-license.
Wilfred appears to have been a “shopkeeper” in All Saints Place, Leicester in 1925; however he had taken over his parents retail operation by 1928 (Kelly’s Directories, 1925 & 1928). Presumably Walter’s daughter Hilda May Pinsent helped out in the shop – at least until she married a “butcher” in 1931. Walter and Clara were reported to be “grocers and fruiterers” on Grasmere Street in Leicester in 1927 (British Telephone Books: 1880 – 1984: Ancestry.com); however they had moved to Forest Road by 1930 (Leicester Electoral Registers).
Walter and Clara were, quite understandably, retired when the war-time Register was compiled in 1939. They were living on Stafford Street. Clara died there in December 1949. Probate was granted to her daughter, Hilda May Ridout (née Pinsent). Her effects were valued at £3,671 (England and Wales, National Probate Calendar: 1858-1966: Ancestry.com). Her husband Walter and her children posted an “In Memoriam” notice in the Leicester Daily Mercury a year after her death (Thursday 21st December 1950). Walter died at his daughter’s residence in December later that same year. At the time, he was described as being a “retired beer retailer”. Interestingly, the “In Memoriam” notice refers to a Jim Pinsent along with Hilda and Clarice. Perhaps his son had been baptized as Wilfred James.
Walter’s eldest son, Charles William Pinsent had been a “shoe clicker” living with his parents on Martin Street at the time of the 1911 census. He served as a private in the “Yorkshire and Lancashire Regiment” during the First World War and survived. However, he seems to have succumbed influenza in November 1918. Presumably he was an unfortunate early victim of the post-war pandemic. Walter’s two other sons both married and had children. Their lives are described elsewhere.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860
Grandmother: Hannah Johnson: 1800 – 1871
PARENTS
Father: Charles Pinsent: 1842 – 1882
Mother: Susannah Bagshaw: 1844 – xxxx
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
John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899
Henry Pinsent: 1838 – 1846
George Pinsent: 1839 – 1857
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
George Henry Pinsent: 1867 – 1934
Walter Pinsent: 1869 – 1950
Ernest Alfred Pinsent: 1877 – 1902
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