Vital Statistics
Charles Pinsent: 1812 – 1863 GRO0127 (Cheese monger, St. John’s Wood, London)
1. Mary Fullick: 1812 – 1852
Married 1833: London
Children by Mary Fullick:
Mary Ann Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – 1868
Thomas Pinsent: 1836 – 1838
Charles Pinsent: 1837 – 1862 (East India Co., Sapper; Married Eliza Holmes, 1859, London)
George Pinsent: 1840 – 1875 (East India Co., Soldier; Married Mary Ann Louisa Payne, 1865, Bombay)
Amelia Pinsent: 1842 – 1901 (Married George Henry Pinsent, 1874, London)
Alice Pinsent: 1844 – xxxx
Eliza Pinsent: 1846 – 1847
Alfred Pinsent: 1848 – 1919 (Building Trades Worker; Married Matilda Churchyard, 1870, London; Charlotte James, 1890, London)
Henry James Pinsent: 1850 – 1853
Frederick Pinsent: 1852 – 1929 (Hannah Jane Jenner, 1876, London)
2. Georgiana Caroline Henly: 1838 – xxxx
Married: 1854: xxxx, xxxx
Children by Georgiana Caroline Henly:
Georgiana Caroline Pinsent: 1854 – xxxx (Married Joseph Edward Cant, 1874, London)
Eliza Maria Pinsent: 1856 – 1857
Family Branch: Devonport
Family Summary: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO0127
Click here to view close family members.
Charles Pinsent was the third son of Thomas Pinsent by his second wife, Elizabeth Pridham. He was born in Devon and brought up at “Greenhill” in Kingsteignton, where his father lived. It would have been his home until 1841, when his father died and it passed to his half-brother, Thomas Pinsent, the “draper” from Devonport.
Charles’s elder brother, John Pinsent ran a “tallow chandlery” in the Goswell Road in London before taking off for American with his wife, Mary Ann Todd, in 1832. Mary Ann left their daughter, Elizabeth, in the doubtless capable hands of her married brother, William Todd, who was a “cheese-monger” in the Finsbury district of central London. Presumably he helped Charles set himself up as a “cheese-monger” and “poulterer” in St. Marylebone in the early 1830s.
Charles married Mary Fullick, in St. George’s Parish, Hanover Square in 1833 and they had a large family comprised of ten children, six boys and four girls, over a period of twenty years. The Census records show that Charles and his young family were living on Buckingham Street, in St. Marylebone, in 1841 with an “independent” lady and her son, and with George Payne, a young “cheese-monger”. He was probably Charles’s employee or apprentice. The family had grown to include four sons Charles (13), George (12), Alfred (3) and Henry (6 months) and two daughters Amelia (9) and Alice (8) by the time the 1851 census was taken. In those days, the household also included a young female servant, and a young male “porter”. There was also a seventeen year-old, unmarried, female “visitor,” Georgie Henly in residence. How she fitted in is not clear; however, she was probably there to help Mary cope with the children.
The family had moved to #8 Queen’s Terrace, St. Marylebone Parish, London (Watkin’s Directory: London: 1852) by then. Whilst there, Charles applied for a license to deal in Game (Morning Herald (London): Tuesday 29th February 1848) so, I like to imagine that he strung pheasants and rabbits up in his shop window – like so many other trades-people into the mid 1900s. The shop acted as a drop-box for the local gentry. A “help wanted” advertisement in the London Times (Monday 9th December 1850) tells us that a gentleman with a substantial household was looking for a competent nurse and applicants should contact C. L. care of Mr. Pinsent, Poulterer, on Queen Street in St. John’s Wood.
Unfortunately, Charles may have over-extended himself when he made his move to, presumably larger, premises at Queen’s Terrace. In the spring of 1853 he was summoned before the “Court For Relief of Insolvent Debtors” and he was intermittently imprisoned for debt over the next couple of years. The London Gazette and other newspapers contain numerous references to hearings as his case wound its way through the legal process. The “Provisional Assignee’s” evaluation was finally ready to be entered into Court on 19th December 1854 (London Gazette: 5th December 1854).
To make life interesting, Charles’s detaining creditor (who presumably did not want the embarrassment of appearing in court) sent him a discharge the night before his appearance and set him free. Charles considered the whole process vexatious and insisted on being brought up before the Commissioner anyway. The poor Commissioner was unsure what to do – as Charles had already been legally discharged (County Courts Chronicle: Monday 1st January 1855)! Charles never got his “day in court.” However, it was two years of his life that he would never get back. It must have been it a traumatic experience.
To add to Charles’s woes, his wife Mary died, in October 1852, while he was still going through the court proceedings. It looks as if Georgie Henly had stayed on with the family to look after his younger children and Charles married her in May 1854. They had a daughter, Georgiana Caroline Pinsent before he received his finally discharge, and another, Eliza Maria Pinsent two years later. The latter was, unfortunately, short-lived. Charles must have lost his business, so the the family moved to #15 Little Norris Street, in Shoreditch, and that is where the Census takers found Charles (48) and Georgiana (26), and the younger children, Alice (16), Alfred (12), Frederick (9) and Georgiana (6) in 1861.
Charles still worked as a “cheese-monger” but he was a broken man. He was obsessively worried about his finances, and he may well of have been upset at seeing two of his sons, Charles Pinsent and George Pinsent join the “East India Company Army” and ship out to Bombay in 1860. His son Charles died in India in October 1862 and his father hanged himself in his bedroom on 29th August 1863 (Dial: Saturday 5th September 1863). He had recently quarreled with his wife, so perhaps it was all too much for him. At the inquest, the Coroner heard that he had been depressed and had threatened to commit suicide several times, saying “That the Regent’s Canal would be his bed”—unless his circumstances mended, and he had told one of his sons “That he should not live till night.” The jury returned a verdict of “Suicide while of unsound mind” (London Evening Standard: Tuesday 1st September 1863). Georgiana was still young. She married James Murphy, in Hackney, London, in May 1864, and he, presumably, helped her look after the younger children.
Four of Charles’s sons (Charles, George, Alfred and Frederick) married. Their lives are discussed elsewhere. His daughter, Amelia, from his first marriage married her cousin George Henry Pinsent, in Stepney, in 1874. Her life is described with her husband’s. Georgiana from the second, married a “mason”, Joseph Edward Cant in Bethnal Green in 1874. He was the son of a “mason” and unlike Georgiana, illiterate. He signed the Register “by mark”.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: John Pinsent: 1723 – 1800
Grandmother: Elizabeth Puddicombe: 1719 – 1795
Parents
Father: Thomas Pinsent: 1754 – 1841
Mother: Elizabeth Pridham: 1763 – 1821
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1743 – xxxx
John Pinsent: 1745 – 1804
Mary Pinsent: 1748 – 1749
Mary Pinsent: 1751 – 1773
Thomas Pinsent: 1754 – 1841
Sarah Pinsent: 1759 – 1782
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Thomas Pinsent: 1779 – 1779
Thomas Pinsent: 1782 – 1872
John Pinsent: 1799 – 1870
William Pinsent: 1808 – xxxx
Charles Pinsent: 1812 – 1863
George Pinsent: 1814 – 1894
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.