Flying Fatalities: Birmingham Civilian Observer’s Remarkable Fate: Mr. David Hume Pinsent, only surviving son of Mr. and Mrs. Hume C. Pinsent, of Foxcombe Hill, near Oxford, and of Birmingham, met with his death under somewhat remarkable circumstances in flying accident which occurred last Wednesday. Mr. Pinsent, who was attached to the Royal Aircraft Establishment, was flying with Lieut. Lutyens as an observer, when the aeroplane collapsed In mid-air. It was stated at the inquest Saturday that the machine, while flying at a tremendous height, suddenly broke into five parts. Although constant search had been made by the police and 1,200 soldiers in the country and ponds in the vicinity, no trace could be found of Mr. Pinsent’s body. In the case of Lieut. Lutyens, a verdict of “Accidental death” was returned. Mr. Pinsent, who was 26 years of age, was educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where graduated with the highest mathematical honours since 1913. When war broke out, he was reading for Bar. He twice applied for a commission but was refused on the grounds of defective eyesight. After working at the Ministry of Munitions for a time, he trained as a munition worker at the Birmingham Technical School. He then went to the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough, where for eight months he worked in the shop as a fitter. In January 1917 he was transferred to the Experimental and Research Department, His only brother, Richard Parker Pinsent was killed in France in October 1915.
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Referenced
GRO0163 Devonport: David Hume Pinsent: 1891 – 1918
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949
GRO0435 Devonport: Hume Chancellor Pinsent: 1857 – 1920