Vital Statistics
Allan Henry Pinsent: 1917 – 2002 GRO1605 (Salesman, Melbourne, Australia)
Lorna Constance Gerloff: 1923 – 1975
Married: xxxx: xxxx, xxxx
Children by Lorna Constance Gerloff:
Son (GRO1615)
Son (GRO1885)
Family Branch: Australia
PinsentID: GRO1605
Click here to view close family members.
Allan Henry Pinsent was the third son of Arthur Henry Pinsent by his wife, Catherine Mary (née Lynch). He was born in Middle Park in South Melbourne in 1917 and grew up there with three brothers and a sister. Allan’s grandmother, Annie Edith Pinsent, was well known to the “better class” of society in Melbourne. She was the proprietress of “Hotel Pinsent” in Wangaratta – northeast of Melbourne.
Allan’s father was a noted Middle Park cricketer into the 1920s and it is not that surprising that two or three of his sons took up the sport. The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (Friday 30th January 1931) shows that “A. Pinsent” played for a “Victoria Junior Cricket Association” eleven against a team from Wangaratta in 1931. This could, I suppose, be a youthful Alan. Also we find that N. Pinsent and A. Pinsent played for Middle Park in a match against the “Lands Department” in February 1934 (Melbourne Argus: Monday 26th February 1934). The N. was Norman Arthur Pinsent and the “A. Pinsent” probably Allan Henry Pinsent. He would have been seventeen years old by then. When Mr. Richard John Webb married Miss Dorothea Grave Gavins in Caulfield, on 17th July 1937 (The Herald: Melbourne) he asked Allan to be one of his “groomsmen.”
Allan was keeping wicket for the Elsternwick (Melbourne suburb) sub-district cricket team by 1940. He had a very good season that year. According to the Sporting Globe,“Allan Pinsent, Elsternwick’s wicketkeeper (Sub-District Firsts), had a hand in the dismissal of seven out of the first eight wickets taken against Brunswick, stumping two, catching four, and assisting in a run-out. So far this season he has taken 25 wickets and has only allowed 14 byes” (Sporting Globe: Melbourne: Saturday 24th February 1940). That should make sense to anyone who has ever played the game. His skill is also shown by the fact that he was chosen for a “Victoria Junior Cricket Association” team that played in Perth, West Australia, over Christmas 1941 (The Western Australian: Saturday 15th November 1941).
Allan played for Elsternwick until at least January 1942 (Sporting Globe (Saturday 24th January 1942) and then seems to have served overseas with the “Australian Armed forces”. I do not know where he served; however, there is a wall plaque in the Springvale Botanical Cemetery in Victoria that shows that “Cpl. A. H. Pinsent, Army Ordnance Corp.” died in 2002 (Australian Billion Graves Cemetery Index). This clearly refers to Allan as it fits with his known date of death. Allan rejoined the Elsternwick team in December 1944 and the Melbourne Argus tells us: “Cricket Team Changes: Sub-District Moves: Pinsent has returned from service outside Australia and will play for Elsternwick. He replaces Dudgeon, who is not available” (The Argus: Friday 1st December 1944). He seems to have had a relatively short engagement with the “Ordnance Corp”!
The military authorities had requisitioned Elsternwick Cricket Club’s ground for the duration of the war but they returned it to the club in November 1945 and Allan resumed his position behind the wickets (The Age: Thursday 1st November 1945). He played for the team regularly through until at least March of 1952.
Allan married Lorna Constance Gerloff sometime after the war and they were living with his parents on “Charnwood Crescent” in St. Kilda in 1949. Allan was a “salesman” and Lorna was a “winder” – although, once again, of what sort I do not know. They were still with Allan’s parents in 1954; however, they had moved to “Kirkwood Street”, in Sandringham, a beachside-suburb of Melbourne by 1964. That was to be their family home until at least 1980 (Australian Electoral Rolls: 1903 – 1980: Ancestry.com). Lorna died there in April 1975 and was buried in “Williamstown Cemetery” in Melbourne. Her husband passed away in July 2002 and was buried beside her. They were later joined by a young grandchild, Samara Jane Pinsent who, sadly, died of leukemia at the age of six in April 2004 (Australian Billion Graves Index).
Allan and Lorna had at least two sons, although I do not know when. At least one of them married and had children. The family is probably still living in Melbourne.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Joseph Henry Pinsent: 1863 – 1945
Grandmother: Annie Edith Pinsent: xxxx – 1936
PARENTS
Father: Arthur Henry Pinsent: 1886 – 1971
Mother: Catherine Mary Lynch: xxxx – 1972
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Mary Elizabeth Pinsent: 1889 – xxxx
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Norman Arthur Pinsent: 1914 – xxxx
Ronald Francis Pinsent: 1915 – 1983
Arthur James Pinsent: 1921 – 2000
Please use the above links to explore this branch of the family tree. The default “Next” and “Previous” links below may lead to other unrelated branches.