Vital Statistics
Alfred Charles Pinsent: 1881 – 1942 GRO0021 (Construction Steel Erector; Luton, Bedfordshire)
Sarah Ann Dyer: 1881 – 1940
Married: 1904: Hackney, London
Children by Sarah Ann Dyer:
Winifred Sarah Pinsent: 1905 – xxxx (Married Francis Gurney, 1925, Dunstable)
Lilian Violet Pinsent: 1906 – 1983 (Married Frederick B. Herbert, 1928)
Alfred Sidney Pinsent: 1909 – 1983 (Tinsmith, Married Gladys Ivy Bleaney, 1932, Luton, Bedfordshire)
Family Branch: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO0021
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Alfred Charles Pinsent was the second son of Frederick Pinsent by his wife Hannah Jane (née Jenner). He was born in Hackney in London, in 1881, and he grew up there with a brother Frederick Charles Pinsent and a sister Alice Amelia Pinsent.
Alfred’s family lived on Edith Terrace on Glyn Road in Hackney, and he attended the “Sidney Road School” for at least a few months in 1888 (London, England, School Admissions and Discharges: 1840-1911). What he did when he left is unclear; however, he was said to be an “engineer” when he married in 1904. By this, it probably meant that he operated heavy machinery. The term seems to have had a broader meaning back then than it does today. Alfred married Sarah Ann Dyer, a “bookbinder,” in Walthamstow, in 1904.
Alfred and Sarah moved from Walthamstow to Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, where they had two daughters in quick succession – Winifred Sarah Pinsent in 1905 and Lillian Violet Pinsent in 1906. Their only son, Alfred Sidney Pinsent was born back in Walthamstow in 1909. At the time, Alfred was described as being a “coffee stall keeper” —presumably he had moved back to Walthamstow to help his father with his business. Dunstable and Luton are approximately thirty-five miles northwest of Walthamstow, so Alfred was never very far from his parents.
When the next Census was taken, in 1911, Alfred was lodging in Brighton, in Sussex. However, his wife Sarah and their three children were still living at #53, St. Mary Street in Dunstable. Alfred was described as being a “boiler-riveter” at the time. His work must have taken him away from home.
Alfred Charles signed on with the “Royal Engineers” (Regt. No. 332051) during the First World War and was assigned to its “I. W. & D.” (Inland Water and Docks) Section, where he held the rank of 2nd Corporal. What the unit did, I am not sure, but several internet sites suggest that it prefabricated infrastructure for use in France. After the war, Alfred became an “erector” for a building firm in Dunstable; which makes sense in this context. He eventually became a steel frame construction worker. Sarah and her children lived at #49 Church Street, in Dunstable, throughout the war.
Alfred and Sarah were still living on Church Street when the census takers came around in 1921. He was a “steel fitter” by then employed by “Bagshaw & Co. Engineers & Chain Makers,” in Dunstable. She had house duties to attend to. Their eldest daughter, Winifred Sarah, had left school and was employed by “Gross & Co.” a “lace paper” manufacturer. She married Francis Gurney in 1925 (Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle: Thursday 31st December 1925). Her sister, Lillian Violet, meanwhile, worked for a grinding engineer at “Bagshaw and & Co.” She married Frederick B. Herbert in Luton in 1928. Their younger brother, Alfred Sidney Pinsent was still at school in 1921. He married Gladys Ivy Bleaney a few years later.
Alfred Charles Pinsent and his wife Sarah stayed on in Church Street after their daughters left and in 1932 they were still there with their son Alfred Sidney Pinsent (Bedfordshire, England, Electoral Registers, 1832 – 1986). In 1939, when the war-time register was compiled, Alfred Charles was listed as a “constructional steel erector” and his wife Sarah had “unpaid domestic duties” to attend to. They could still be found on Church Street. However, they seen to have moved back to St. Mary Street, in Dunstable, shortly before Sarah died in October the following year. Why the alternating addresses I am not sure – perhaps it had been her family home.
Alfred passed away in Hendon, in London, in August 1942. According to the Luton News and Bedfordshire Chronicle (Thursday 20th August, 1942) he had been a prominent member of the local “Conservative Club”. Evidently, he had worked for the “Associated Portland Cement Co.”, in Houghton Regis, for several years before his death and he had been living with his daughter and son-in-law (Mr. and Mrs. Gurney), in Dunstable, for some time before he died in Colindale Hospital, after a long illness.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Charles Pinsent: 1812 – 1863
Grandmother: Mary Fullick: 1812 – 1852
PARENTS
Father: Frederick Pinsent: 1852 – 1929
Mother: Hannah Jane Jenner: 1847 – 1926
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Mary Ann Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – 1868
Thomas Pinsent: 1836 – 1838
Charles Pinsent: 1837 – 1862
George Pinsent: 1840 – 1875
Amelia Pinsent: 1842 – 1901
Alice Pinsent: 1844 – xxxx
Eliza Pinsent: 1846 – 1847
Alfred Pinsent: 1848 – 1919
Henry James Pinsent: 1850 – 1853
Frederick Pinsent: 1852 – 1929
Georgiana Caroline Pinsent: 1854 – xxxx
Eliza Maria Pinsent: 1856 – 1857
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Frederick Charles Pinsent: 1875 – 1951
Thomas Benjamin Pinsent: 1876 – 1877
Alfred Charles Pinsent: 1881 – 1942
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