Vital Statistics
Eric Henry Edwin Pinsent: 1896 – 1959 GRO0270 (Soldier, Paper Products Manufacturer and Processor, Wimbledon, Surrey)
Catherine Ann Coles: 1897 – 1992
Married: 1920: Bristol, Gloucestershire
Children by Catherine Ann Coles:
Joyce Irene Pinsent: 1921 – 1991 (Married John Geoffrey Vaughan Davies, Wimbledon, Surrey, 1948)
Sylvia Emily Bessie Pinsent: 1924 – xxxx
Family Branch: Bristol
PinsentID: GRO0270
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Eric Henry Edwin Pinsent was the eldest son of Edwin John Pinsent by his first wife, Emily Mary (née Vowles). He was born in Ashley Down Road in Horfield, north Bristol, in September 1896 and grew up in the Southville area (south of the River Avon) with two brothers (Leslie Donald Pinsent and Samuel Claude Pinsent) and two sisters (Josephine Louisa Pinsent and Pauline Rose Pinsent). The 1901 Census shows that Eric’s father was a “wine and spirit warehouseman,” and that the family lived on Raleigh Road in Bedminster.
Ten years on, the 1911 Census tells us that Eric was an errand boy working for a grocer and his younger siblings were attending school. Sadly, Eric’s mother, Emily Mary (née Vowles) died in Bristol Royal Infirmary the following January (1912) – which left her husband Edwin John with several young children to look after. He seems to have moved back across the river to be closer to his own family, who still lived in and around Westbury on Trym.
Eric joined the Army at the outset of the “First World War”. His enlistment papers (British Army WWI Service Records: 1914-1920: National Archives) show that he was a 5 ft. 5 in. tall, nineteen-years old, Anglican, “provisions salesman” who initially joined the “1st South Middlesex (?) Brigade, R.F.A”. (Royal Field Artillery) as a “Driver” (Regimental #1950). This was a “Territorial Army” unit and limited to home service. Sometime later, he transferred to the “48th (S.M.) D.A.C. Regiment” (Divisional Ammunition Column; Royal Artillery), a “Regular Army Unit” and became eligible for overseas service. He was still a “Driver” but his regimental number changed to #825667.
Eric’s unit was shipped to Le Havre in Normandy in July 1915. It serviced the gun batteries there and (presumably) elsewhere in France and Belgium and transferred to Italy in November 1917. Eric returned to England in February 1919 and was demobilized in April that year. He was, however, kept on call until March 1920. His service record included a few minor infractions: (stealing apples in Normandy in August, 1915; absence from roll-call in September 1917 and leaving his post as a “stableman” in September 1918) but nothing egregious. It is worth noting here that the Artillery frequently used horse-drawn wagons to transport munitions in those days and the term “driver” does not necessarily imply a motorized vehicle. Eric was eligible for the “British”, “Victory” and “Star Medals” for his service. For sake of convenience, he gave his grandfather’s address on Woodbury Lane as his point of contact when he was demobilized.
After the war, Eric rejoined his family in Bristol and took on a job as a “stationer’s warehouseman.” He married Catherine Ann Coles, the daughter of a deceased “plumber” in November 1920 and they had two daughters, both of whom married in the 1940s and may well have had families of their own. Eric was a “cardboard box maker” employed by “E. A. & S. Robinsons, Cardboard Box Manufacturers,” in Redcliffe Street in Bristol when the census takers caught up with him in 1921. His wife, Catherine was a home at 135 City Road in Bristol looking after their month old baby, Joyce.
Eric remained in the paper processing business throughout his life. He moved from Bristol to a house on Cullesden Road in Kenley, near Croydon in Surrey with his family in the mid-to-late 1920s or early 1930s. Certainly, he was there by 1935 (London, England, City Directories: 1736-1943). When the England and Wales wartime register was compiled in 1939, Eric was a “foreman” in a “fibre-box manufacturing plant.” His eldest daughter worked for the “Customs and Excise” and his younger one was still at school. He was a “manager” when his eldest daughter married in 1948 and a “foreman” when the younger first married in 1943. She may have married twice.
The Electoral Registers show that Eric and Catherine lived at “Kenilworth”, on Cullesden Road through to Eric’s demise in early February 1959. His ashes were buried at St. Mary’s Church, Merton, in Surrey later that month. His widow Catherine Ann was granted probate of an estate that was valued at in excess of £8,000 (Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration).
Catherine Ann stayed on in Kenley until around 1963, when she moved to Sutton and Cheam, which is also in Surrey. There, she lived in Basinghall Gardens for the remainder of her life (British Telephone Books: 1880-1984): Electoral Registers): She died in 1992.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: William Henry John Pinsent: 1841 – 1923
Grandmother: Louisa Broad: 1837 – 1926
PARENTS
Father: Edwin John Pinsent: 1868 – 1949
Mother: Emily Mary Vowles: 1877 – 1912
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
William Henry Thiery Pinsent: 1865 – 1915
Louisa Pinsent: 1867 – 1936
Edwin John Pinsent: 1868 – 1949
George Pinsent: 1870 – 1890
Alfred James Pinsent: 1872 – 1873
Emilie Marie Eugenie Pinsent: 1873 – 1959
Josephine Pinsent: 1876 – 1952
Lana Florence Mary Pinsent: 1878 – 1879
Alfred Louie Pinsent: 1880 – 1944
Beatrice Rose Pinsent: 1882 – 1959
Sidney Pinsent: 1883 – 1947
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS, Half-brothers)
Leslie Donald Pinsent: 1900 – 1972
Samuel Claude Pinsent: 1904 – 1988
Alfred Edwin Hope Pinsent: 1906 – 1907
Ronald Leslie Pinsent: 1926 – 2007
Cyril Edwin Pinsent: 1928 – 2003
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