Vital Statistics
John Pinson: 1855 – 1919 GRO1903 (Plumber & Gasfitter, Rozelle, Sydney, New South Wales)
Ellen Robinson: 1854 – 1906
Married: 1876: Sydney, News South Wales, Australia
Children by Ellen Robinson:
Isabella Elizabeth Pinson: 1877 – xxxx (Married David Wagstaff, xxxx, xxxx, xxxx)
Ethel Esther Pinson: 1879 – 1907
Leslie Walter Pinson: 1881 – 1954 (Married Myra Crozier, Sydney, New South Wales, 1905)
Nellie Mabel Pinson: 1882 – xxxx (Married James Cooksey, Sydney, New South Wales, 1908)
Edith Mary Pinson: 1885 – xxxx (Married Arthur B. Goyen, Balmain North, New South Wales, Australia, 1908)
John Ernest Pinson: 1889 – 1960 (Married Marion Brown, Burwood, New South Wales, Australia, 1911)
William John Pinson: 1891 – 1957
Daisy Bell Pinson: 1894 – xxxx (Married James Watson, Balmain South, New South Wales, Australia, 1911)
Ivy Irene Pinson:* 1897 – xxxx (Married Henry T. Marson, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1919)
*Ivy’s illegitimate daughter: Hazel I. Pinson (1914 – xxxx)
Family Branch: Bristol
PinsentID: GRO1903
John Pinson was the third eldest surviving son of Joseph Pinson by his wife Elizabeth (née Snell). He was born in Sydney in New South Wales of parents who had emigrated from Devonshire and arrived in Australia in 1850. His father was a “quarryman” who had a large family – seven boys and four girls. They lived on Harris Street in Pyrmont, in what is now a coastal part of “downtown” Sydney. Three boys and one girl died young but the others grew to maturity. John (and his elder and younger brothers, Richard Thomas and Frederick Arthur Pinson) married and had children, and their descendants can still be found in Sydney and its suburbs.
John’s mother Elizabeth died in 1880 and her husband, Joseph, placed an advertisement in the local newspaper notifying her family and friends of the funeral arrangements (Sydney Morning Herald: Tuesday 27th April 1880). It seems to have been a convention that each married son and daughter place their own advertisement, even though they inevitably conveyed the same information. The family placed similar notifications down into relatively recent time, and they are very helpful in establishing relationships and basic family structure! John’s father died the following year (1881) and his sons Richard, Frederick, John and William all duly notified their family and friends of the details of his interment (Evening News: Monday 29th August 1881). Similarly, the brothers notified their friends of the funeral arrangement made on the death of their brother William James Pinson in 1899 (Sydney Morning Herald: Tuesday 19th September 1899).
John Pinson married Ellen Robinson in St. Peter’s Church in Woolloomooloo in Sydney in October 1876. They had six daughters and three sons over the next twenty years or so. John Pinson was a “plumber” in Balmain, in Sydney, in the 1880s. Evidently, he worked in partnership with a Mr. John Skinner until 1888, when he bought him out and established his own business (Balmain Observer and Western Suburbs Advertiser, Saturday 23rd June 1888). John seems to have done more than just plumbing. In July 1888, he placed an advertisement in the paper stating that he also manufactured (or at least sold) galvanized iron tanks and he quoted prices for volumes of up to 1,000 (imperial) gallons (Saturday 14th July 1888). Presumably they were used for water storage; however, some conceivably, could have been used for storing gas – which was starting to be used for lighting. In August that year, the “Australian Gas Light Company” issued a list of the “gasfitters” that it had recently licensed. John was on the list (Sydney Morning Herald: Saturday 18th August 1888).
In 1901, John and Archibald Pinson (who was – I presume – son of his brother Richard Thomas Pinson) were living at on “Foucart” Street in Balmain. John lived at #48 and Frederick at #64. It is worth noting that the large spread in ages within a family can cause confusion when it comes to generations – especially if the same names are handed down within the family. The 1901 Census shows that John had three sons and six daughters – so his brood is well defined. The Municipality of Sydney regulary published lists of “licensed tradesmen”, such as “plumbers,” in the early 1900s and one of these confirms that John was indeed working in Balmain, and that his family did, in fact, live on “Foucart Street” (Daily Telegraph: Saturday 8th March 1902).
John like all good tradesman valued his reputation and he inserted the following notice in the local paper in 1903: “The John Pinson, proceeded against in the Balmain Police Court, on Wednesday, the 30th September, for damaging property is not in any way connected with my son, John: John Pinson, 48 Foucart Street, Rozelle” (Balmain Observer and Western suburbs Advertiser: Saturday 10th October 1903). Who the other “John Pinson” was, I am not sure. However, it is worth noting that there were other unrelated Pinson families in Sydney at the time. Some may even have come Devonshire; however, they could just as likely have come from Staffordshire or somewhere else in the English Midlands.
Sadly, John’s wife Ellen (née Robinson) died in 1906 and the extended family, including her now married son, Leslie Walter, and her own sisters-in-law rallied round and notified their friends of the funeral arrangements (Sydney Morning Herald: Monday 4th June 1906). John politely thanked them all for their condolences, sympathy and floral tributes a couple of weeks later (Sydney Morning Herald: Saturday 23rd June 1906).
Some of the “Probate” records in the “Supreme Court” of New South Wales are available on line, and Ellen’s shows that she owned the land, house and furnishings at “#48 Foucart Street”, in Rozelle (Balmain West). She left it all to her husband on the understanding that it was to be sold when he died and the proceeds were then to be equally distributed among their children, Elizabeth (Wagstaff), Ethel Esther, Leslie Walter, Nellie Mabel, Edith May, John Ernest, William John, Daisy Bell and Ivy Irene (New South Wales Will Book: 1800-1952: Findmypast).
Ellen’s death seems to have hit her daughter Ethel Ester Pinson particularly hard and she died a year later on the anniversary of her death – either by accident or through committing suicide. The Coroner established that one of her brothers, William Pinson, found her drowned face down on the bench in Rozelle Bay. William said that the two of them had gone to visit their brother (unspecified but probably Leslie Walter Pinson) the night before and that she had acted peculiarly. Afterwards, they took a tram home and some time after that she went missing. He went to look for her but had to stop when it got to dark. He found her body on the beach the following morning. The Coroner said there was no way of knowing how she entered the water (Sydney Morning Herald: Thursday 6th June 1907).
Two of Ellen’s children had married prior to her death. Her eldest daughter, Isabella Elizabeth (“Bella”), may even have married twice in the same year, 1905! The New South Wales: 1788 – 1945, list of Civil Marriages & Divorces (FindMyPast) shows that Isabella E. Pinson married Alfred W. Wakefield and David R. H. Wagstaff in Petersham in 1905. The only way to rationalize this is to suggest that Alfred died soon after their wedding, as Isabella was married to David Wagstaff when her mother died in 1906. Leslie Walter married Myra Crozier in 1905 and he had moved out of the family home by the time she died. His life and descent is discussed elsewhere.
Two of John Pinson’s younger daughters, Nellie Mabel and Edith May Pinson married in 1908. Nellie married James Cooksey and Edith married Arthur B. Goyen. John’s second son, John Ernest Pinson was next, he married Marion Brown in 1911 and thus left home shortly before the “First World War”. His life is also discussed elsewhere. The next to leave home was John’s daughter Daisy Bell Pinson. She married a mechanic, Robert Watson in St. Thomas’s Church, in Balmain West, (or “Rozelle” as it was now known). She was underage at the time and her marriage required her father’s written consent (Sydney Australia Anglican Parish Registers: 1814 – 2011: Ancestry.com). William John and Ivy Irene seem to have been the only children that John still had at home on “Foucart Street” at the outbreak of the “First World War”.
William John Pinson enlisted in March in 1915, two weeks after the start of the Gallipoli campaign. His attestation papers (which are available on line) show that he was single and twenty-four year old. He was 5 ft. 5 in. tall, weighed 136 lbs., had a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. Added to this, he had distinguishing scars on his right arm, his left jaw, on one of his thumbs and on his right leg. Despite being accident prone, he was considered fit for active service and he duly joined “B Coy. 17th Battalion” of the Australian forces as Private #642:
Despite (or perhaps because of!) receiving an early reprimand (fined 10s and being detailed for “Special Duty” – what ever that meant) for “insolence to an officer” on 12th August, he was sent to join the ANZAC forces in Gallipoli on 16th August. Three months later, he was wounded in the leg and arm by an enemy bomb and he was taken to Alexandria in Egypt onboard the “Royal Navy Hospital Ship Somali”. From there, he was he was transferred to the ANZAC “General Hospital” at Heliopolis (Cairo) where his leg fracture and wounds to his left hand and his right arm below the elbow were treated.
On 30th November 1915 John Pinsent (William’s father) was notified by telegram that his son had been wounded – and he was told that he would be updated on his son’s condition shortly. What that did for his blood pressure, I hate to think! True to their word, he received a letter from the “Australian Imperial Force Office” in Melbourne in December, and in February 1916 he learnt that William was to be shipped back to Australia. Evidently, he would be arriving in Melbourne sometime in March. They powers that be were understandably vague about shipping dates. William John was one of many servicemen who embarked on “S. S. Nestor” on 13th March 1916 and returned to Australia. At home, he predictably failed his medical and he was discharged from the Army after only eighteen months of service.
Nothing daunted, William reapplied on 2nd January 1917 and, although the doctors noted the recent scars on his arm and hand, they considered him once more fit for active service. He rejoined at Private #60609 in “C. Coy. 3rd Battalion”. However, his re-enlistment and basic training did not go well: “This man has been paraded and severely admonished for his breach of discipline in communication direct with the District Commandant. It appears that he is still suffering from the effects of shell shock and that he is subject to attacks of temporary violence and mental aberration. He is being sent before a medical board.” The board duly met and he was once again discharged as medically unfit “not due to misconduct” on 28th February 1917. He was entitled to the “1914/1915 Star Medal” for his service during the Gallipoli campaign.
William John was not the only Pinsent assigned to that ill-fated campaign. Lieutenant Laurence Alfred Pinsent of the North Staffordshire Regiment died there on 15th August 1915.
On his return to civilian life, William John Pinson probably resumed work as a “butcher” and worked with his father until the latter died in, April 1919. John Pinson was buried in Rookwood Cemetery and the Pinson family home on “Foucart Street”, in Rozelle, was presumably sold – in accordance with his late wife Ellen’s wishes. What happened to William John after that, I am not sure. There is nothing to suggest that he ever married or had children. He died in December 1957 and was interred in the War Cemetery in Rookwood, in Sydney. Probate was granted the following May (NRS-13660-37-14367-Series 4_475622: William John Pinson, death 12th December 1957: Granted on 5th May 1958).
John’s daughter Ivy felt free to marry Henry T. Marsden after her father died in 1919. Presumably she had stayed home to look after him. She had had an illegitimate daughter (Hazel I. Pinson) in 1914. I do not know if she was Henry’s child. John Pinson’s three daughters, “Bella” Wagstaff, Daisy Watson and Ivy placed notices of remembrance in the local newspaper a year after their father died (Sydney Morning Herald: Saturday 17th and Monday 19th April 1920).
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: John Pinsent: 1782 – 1849
Grandmother: Mary Follett: 1782 – 1859
Parents
Father: Joseph Pinson: 1819 –1881
Mother: Elizabeth Snell: 1824 – 1880
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Ann Pinson: 1809 – 1862
William Pinsent: 1811 – 1879
Elizabeth Pinson: 1814 – xxxx
John Pinsent: 1817 – 1819
Sarah Pinson: 1821 – 1886
John Pinsent: 1823 – 1902
James Pinsent: 1825 – 1886
Male Siblings (Brothers)
William Pinson: 1845 – 1845
William James Pinson: 1846 – 1899
Richard Thomas Pinson: 1850 – 1913
John Pinson: 1855 – 1919
Frederick Arthur Pinson: 1857 – 1914
Andrew C. Pinson: 1859 – 1862
Henry Charles A. Pinson: 1865 – 1868
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