Vital Statistics
William George James Pinsent: 1892 – 1963 GRO0896 (Grain and later Spice Merchant, London, Middlesex)
1. Maud Eleanor Spall: 1892 – 1939
Married: 1913: London, Middlesex
Children by Maud Eleanor Spall:
William Thomas James Pinsent: 1914 – 1996 (Married Ethel Mary Fearnley: Morden, Surrey, 1938)
Leonard Albert Walter Pinsent: 1916 – 1995 (Married (1) Theresa Nazer Warren, London, Middlesex, 1939; (2) Enid Taylor, Westminster, Middlesex, 1955)
Ronald Bertram Horace Pinsent: 1921 – 1942 (Married Pauline Marie Potter, East Barnet, Hertfordshire, 1941)
Joyce Elizabeth Pinsent: 1923 – xxxx (Married Harry Standing Burrows, 1942)
2. Elizabeth Thornley: 1912 – 1975
Married: 1942: Barnet, Hertfordshire
References
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0896
William George James was the eldest son of William John Pinsent by his wife Rose Emeline (née Parsons). He was born in London, where his father was a “market porter” and, later, a “ fruit salesman.” He grew up with three younger brothers (Sidney Henry, Leonard Charles and Bertram Horace Pinsent) and five sisters (Rose Marguerita, Violet, Ivy Lilian and one other). They were born in either Shoreditch or Holborn in north London over a period of approximately twenty years.
William and his younger brother Sidney were admitted to “Hamond Square School”, in Hackney in March 1898 (London, England, School Admissions and Discharges: 1840-1911: Ancestry.com). He left when he was around twelve, and he was an eighteen-years old “corn chandler’s assistant” when the census was taken in 1911. He was living with his parents and seven siblings in three rooms on Poole Street, in Hoxton (Shoreditch) at the time. William married Maud Eleanor Spall, a “fur liner” who was the daughter of a “refreshment room attendant” at Shoreditch Registry Office in September 1913. They moved to Minton Street, and their first child, William Thomas James Pinsent was born there the following April (1914).
William enlisted as a private in the “Scots Guards” in September 1915 [Regimental #14438]; however, it was a short attachment as he was discharged a couple of months later on account of “deafness”. His service records have “not likely etc. (medical grounds)” written against his name (National Archives WO 372/16). This probably meant that he was deemed not likely to make an effective soldier. On his discharge, William attempted to reenter civilian life. He advertised for a position in the grain trade (London Daily Chronicle: 14th December 1915). Perhaps there were none going as William George Pinsent was described as being a “munitions worker” when his second son (Leonard Albert Walter Pinsent) was born in August 1916. Somewhat later, William joined the army’s “Labour Corp.” The latter contacted the Scots Guards looking for William’s documents to add to those of their Pte. Wm. Geo. Pinsent, [#531497]. when the war ended, he was discharged on 14th February 1919 and granted the “Victory”, “British” and “U.K. Silver War Badge” for his wartime service.
London’s electoral registers show that William was living with Ernest Arthur and Kate Gotcher on Rectory Road in Hackney in 1919. I am not sure where his wife was at the time! Perhaps she was with her family or with her mother-in-law. William George and and Eleanor had settled in Rectory Road (near Stoke Newington Police Station) by the time the next census was taken, in 1921. He was said to be a “corn chandler” working on his own account. His wife Maud and his two sons, William Thomas (who was at school) and Leonard Albert (who would be following him fairly soon) were shortly to be joined by a third son, Ronald Bertram and a daughter.
According to the London Post Office Directory, William George was a “grain chandler” who worked out of Bridport Place (adjacent to Shoreditch Park) in the mid 1920s (London, England, City Directories, 1736-1943). However, the days of the horse-drawn cart and carriage were numbered by then, and there must have been fewer and fewer horses for him to feed. William needed to diversify: so he became a “Spice and Herb Merchant” (British Telephone Books 1880-1984: Ancestry.com). The Electoral Registers tell us that William George and Eleanor continued to live on Rectory Road until around 1929. They had moved to a house on Elderfield Road by 1931 and, from there, decamped to Nightingale Road, in Lower Clapton, by 1932 (Electoral Registers).
William must have been a successful businessman as he was able to move his spice business to St. John’s Lane in Clerkenwell, near London’s city centre, while at the same time moving his family from north-central London to Osidge Lane, in East Barnet – where they lived from 1935 until the mid-1950s (British Telephone Books: 1880-1984). William George and his then second wife Elizabeth (née Thornley) moved to Westcliff on Sea, near Southend in Essex in around 1955.
William George and Maud Eleanor (née Spall) had three sons and a daughter. The three boys, William Thomas James Pinsent , Leonard Albert Walter Pinsent and Ronald Bertram Horace Pinsent grew up and married in the London area. William Thomas and Leonard Albert had children and their lives are discussed elsewhere. However, Ronald Bertram was less fortunate.
Ronald Bertram Horace Pinsent married Pauline Marie Potter, the daughter of a “clerk” in East Barnet, in August 1941, shortly before joining the Royal Air Force. He was sent to the United States for pilot training and was one of several young pilots (“Leading Aircraftsmen”) based out of Moody Field in Valdosta, Georgia, who were killed in a night-flight training accident in July 1942. They died in a four-way plane accident over Madison, along with a United States Army officer, on the night of the 14/15th July 1942 (Anniston Star: 16th July 1942). Ronald was one of several hundred British cadets sent to Moody Field for training during the Second World War. Nine of them died accidentally in training (U.S.-findagrave-Ancestry.com).
Administration of Ronald’s somewhat limited estate (£111 2s 6d) was granted to his widow’s attorney, her father Harry Francis Potter (England and Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration) 1858-1946) on 14th June 1946. Pauline may well have been living in New Zealand by then. Clearly, Ronald’s death had not frightened her off pilots. She married Kenneth Stuart Leigh, a New Zealand “school teacher” who was a “Flying Officer” in the “Royal New Zealand Air Force” in 1944. Pauline had no children by Ronald and she was able to move on with her life.
William George James’s wife, Maud Eleanor (née Spall), died of pneumonia in Great Clacton near Colchester in Essex in September 1939, and he married Elizabeth Thornley, the daughter of a “market gardener” in Barnet in August 1942 – which must have been shortly after he learnt of his youngest son’s death in the United States. There were no children by the second marriage – at least that I am aware of. On a happier note, William’s daughter, also married in 1942.
After the war, William George Pinsent continued to run his business as a “spice merchant” out of St. John’s Lane in Central London. His eldest son, William Thomas James Pinsent joined him and took it over when his father retired and moved to Westcliff on Sea, near Southend, in Essex. William George died in February 1963. Probate of his estate, which was valued at over £10,000, was granted to two local solicitors working on behalf of his executors. William’s business passed to his son William Thomas James Pinsent and it continued to function much as before. The firm of “William G. Pinsent, Spice Merchant, 2 St. John’s Lane, E.C. 1” was still around as late as 1983 (Kelly’s Manufacturers and Merchants Directory.) It evolved over time but the shop is in essence the same today.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: James Pinsent: 1837 – 1912
Grandmother: Sarah Savage: 1839 – 1914
Parents
Father: William John Pinsent: 1869 – 1918 ✔️
Mother: Rose Emeline Parsons: 1872 – 1950
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
George James Pinsent: 1859 – 1860
James Walter Pinsent: 1861 – 1948
Sarah Lydia Pinsent: 1863 – 1942
Joseph Benjamin Pinsent: 1865 – 1897
Louisa Mary Pinsent: 1867 – xxxx
William John Pinsent: 1869 – 1918 ✔️
Martha Elizabeth Pinsent: 1871 – xxxx
Thomas Henry Pinsent: 1873 – 1910
Georgina Frances Pinsent: 1875 – xxxx
Albert Hibbard Pinsent: 1878 – 1878
Edward Charles Pinsent: 1878 – 1878
George Hibbard Pinsent: 1879 – 1953
Alexander Sidney Pinsent: 1884 – 1911
Male Siblings (Brothers)
William George James Pinsent: 1892 – 1963
Sidney Henry Pinsent: 1895 – 1979
Henry Thomas Pinsent: 1896 – 1897
Leonard Charles Pinsent: 1898 – 1974
Bertram Horace Pinsent: 1904 – 1967
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