Vital Statistics
Andrew Clive Macpherson Pinsent: 1922 – 1982 GRO0046 (Commander, Royal Navy)
Gloria Poppy Marie Tollemache: 1922 – 1979
Married: 1945: Alexandria, Egypt
Children by Gloria Poppy Marie Tollemache:
Son (GRO1110)
Son (GRO1113)
Daughter (GRO0820)
Family Branch: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO0046
References
Andrew Clive Macpherson Pinsent was the eldest son of Commander Clive and Mrs. Kathleen Pinsent. He was born in Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire and grew up in Stevenage in Hertfordshire and on a country estate at “Edinglassie”, near Huntly, in Scotland with two younger brothers. His mother inherited the estate from her father and she was very active in the local community. She was “President” of the “Glass S.W.R.I.” (Scottish Womens’ Rural Institute) for many years and her boys sometimes helped out at meetings. They showed films, operated lantern projectors and they handed out prizes when the Glass ladies came to “Edinglassie” for their annual garden party. They also assisted at charity events.
Andrew entered the “Royal Naval College”, at Dartmouth, in December 1935 (Western Morning News: 21st December 1935) and graduated in August 1939 (Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer: 23rd August 1939) – just before the “Second World War.” The “Royal Navy’s” published lists and Andrew’s service records show that he was a “mid-shipman” in August 1940 and a “sub-lieutenant” in August 1941. He was promoted to full “lieutenant” in January 1943.
Andrew was sent to “H.M.S. Eclipse,” a “destroyer” deployed around the northern tip of Scotland for his first appointment. It was there to protect convoys in the North West Approaches and the North Sea, and to keep watch for enemy submarines lurking around the fleet’s home base of “Scarpa Flow” (in the Orkney Islands). The navy suffered the humiliation of having one of its battleships, “H.M.S. Royal Oak,” sunk there by a U-Boat in October 1939 and it was very conscious of the danger. “H.M.S Eclipse” was damaged by an enemy aircraft while patrolling off Norway in April 1940. Nevertheless, it was back in action in August after a refit. It was sent south and helped undertake screening duties off the West African coast for a while, before being recalled to the “Home Fleet” in July 1941. There, it resumed its earlier role of protecting incoming and outgoing convoys and watch out for enemy submarines near “Scarpa Flow.” Despite the early loss, it was still the home base for several capital ships – including the aircraft carriers “H.M.S. Furious” and “H.M.S. Victorious”. “H.M.S. Eclipse” screened Russian Convoys for a while and returned to Hull later that year (1941) – badly in need of a major refit.
On his arrival at Hull, Andrew was promoted to sub-lieutenant and transferred to “H.M.S. Cleveland” – another destroyer attached to the “Home Fleet.” It too, spent much of its time guarding convoys coming into and leaving the Western Approaches. However, after a refit, the ship was sent to the Mediterranean in March 1943 for convoy and troop protection duties. The weather must have been better and life less fraught than on the Murmansk run in the “Eclipse”. The “Cleveland” supported the allied landings in Sicily and helped rescue survivors from a troop transport sunk by enemy action east of Algiers on 5th July 1943. Later that year, it supported the Allied landings at Salerno, in southern Italy. The “Cleveland” continued to be deployed in ship and troop protection duties for most of that year.
Lieutenant A. C. M. Pinsent transferred to another destroyer, “H.M.S. Ledbury”, in May 1944. In August 1942, two years earlier, the Ledbury had helped bring a convoy that included the oil tanker, “S.S. Ohio” into Malta. The convoy had taken a terrible beating from German and Italian aircraft since it left Gibraltar and the tanker, which had been immobilized, had to be lashed between two destroyers to keep it afloat and provide it with the propulsion needed to bring it into Valletta! Its arrival was pivotal as it brought in much needed supplies and fuel and essentially prevented Malta from falling into German hands. “H.M.S. Ledbury” seems to have had a far less eventful life after Andrew joined it. It was assigned to the not-so-onerous task of ship protection duties in the Adriatic.
Lieutenant Pinsent stayed on in the “Royal Navy” after the war. He took a navigation course in 1945 and was assigned to the aircraft carrier “H.M.S. Implacable” in 1948. The records show that he was a “Lieutenant Commander” at “H.M.S. Dryad” (a shore station at Southwick) in January 1951 but he had returned to sea by 1954. He was posted to another aircraft carrier, “H.M.S. Triumph” – which was mainly used to train cadets. Sadly, he was injured in a diving accident in the “West Indies” and retired from the Navy on 3rd November 1954. He was only 32 years old.
Andrew spent time in Egypt whilst serving in the Mediterranean and he met and married Gloria Tollemache there. She was a “Third Officer” in the “W.R.N.S.” at “H.M.S. Nile” – the shore-station at Alexandria. They married in All Saint’s Anglican Church in Alexandria, in January 1945 (Aberdeen Weekly Journal: 29th March 1945). Gloria came from a family with a long tradition of military service. Her father was a Major, and she had several relations serving in high-ranking positions in both the army and the navy. It took a while for the couple to make it home to Scotland but, when they did, Andrew’s parents invited the tenants on the “Edinglassie” estate to a dinner that was held in their honour. They gave the young couple a clock (Aberdeen Weekly Journal: 30th August 1945).
Andrew and Gloria had two sons and a daughter. The Glass “S.W.R.I.” gave Andrew’s mother (Kathleen) a gold pin to give to her first grandson when he was born in February 1946. He was in England at the time, and she graciously accepted on her own behalf – and that of the parents and child (Huntley Express: 26th April 1946). Andrew and Gloria lived in Tichfield, in Hampshire, until 1954 – when Andrew left the Navy. While there, Gloria had the misfortune to have her car struck by a motorcyclist; however, there does not seem to have been any personal damage (Portsmouth Evening News: Tuesday 20th May 1952).
The family then moved to Whitchurch, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire and lived there for a few years before settling down in Angmering, in West Sussex, where they went looking for home help in 1961 (The Scotsman, Friday 14th April 1961). Mrs. Andrew Pinsent needed someone to help her look after her husband and three children: “happy and comfortable job offered to capable and understanding woman over 20 to help with cooking and 7 1/2 year-old girl at a day school; two boys, 15 and 13 at boarding school: father in a wheelchair: modern easily run home in centre of seaside village.” They must have had a large property as Andrew applied for planning permission for two detached houses in 1971 (Worthing Gazette: 23rd June 1971).
Although confined to a wheelchair, Andrew was a prominent and active member of the local community and he, along with several others, founded the “Angmering Society” – which was dedicated to the promotion and preservation of the village (Worthing Herald: 23rd May 1973). Apparently, the society was formed when the village’s Medieval Pigeon House was put up for sale and the likely purchaser looked like being a developer intent on its destruction. The Society was able to prevent this, and see to it that the building was bought by a more sensitive purchaser (Littlehampton Gazette: 7th May 1998). Andrew was an active voice and vice-president of the society for several years in the 1970s (Littlehampton Gazette: 9th November 1979). The couple had other interests and were active supporters and fund-raisers for the “Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” (Worthing Herald: 23rd July 1974)
Gloria may have had a difficult childhood as her parents had divorced in 1929, when she was seven years old. In 1959, her mother, Mrs. Poppy Tollemache placed an advertisement in several papers, including the “News of the World” (1st February 1959) asking after the whereabouts of her daughter, Gloria Pinsent “an ex W.R.N.S. Officer who she hadn’t heard from since she became attached to H.M.S. Nile, at Alexandra in 1945”. Mrs. Tollemache was in hospital at the time. She knew that Gloria had, at one time, resided in Whitchurch but she had heard nothing since.
At some point, Andrew and Gloria may have moved up to London, which was where they were living in 1971. However, they ended up in Chichester in West Sussex by 1976. Gloria died in 1979. She was buried at Helmingham in Suffolk, near the Tollemache family home. Andrew died in 1982 (London Times: 14th April 1982) and was buried next to his parents in Glass churchyard in Aberdeenshire (Findagrave.com). Andrew corresponded with my father, Dr. Robert John Francis Homfray Pinsent on family matters intermittently in the 1960s and 1970s.
His sons both married and have sons of their own, so the family line continues.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Richard Alfred Pinsent: 1852 – 1948
Grandmother: Laura Proctor Ryland: 1855 – 1931
Parents
Father: Clive Pinsent: 1886 – 1948
Mother: Kathleen Jane Macpherson: 1895 – 1974
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Roy Pinsent: 1883 – 1978
Clive Pinsent: 1886 – 1948
John Ryland Pinsent: 1888 – 1957
Laurence Alfred Pinsent: 1894 – 1915
Philip Ryland Pinsent: 1897 – 1916
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Andrew Clive Macpherson Pinsent: 1922 – 1982
James Macpherson Pinsent: 1925 – 1983
Ewan Macpherson Pinsent: 1930 – 2020
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.