Vital Statistics
Samuel George Caleb Pinsent: 1875 – 1951 GRO0778 (Mariner and shoe maker, Plymouth, Devon)
Florence Edith Louise Hill: 1875 – 1959
Married: 1897: Plymouth, Devon
Children by Florence Edith Louise Hill:
Edith May Pinsent: 1897 – xxxx (Married Frederick James Brimmell, Plymouth, Devon, 1923)
Irene Louise Pinsent: 1899 – 1980 (Married Arthur Lee, Plymouth Devon, 1924)
Lilian Beatrice Pinsent: 1900 – 1973 (Married Reginald Joseph Wootton, Plymouth Devon, 1929)
Leslie Samuel Pinsent: 1904 – 1976 (Married (1) Lucy Nahas, Plymouth Devon, 1951; (2) Olwyn Beryle Trestrail, Plymouth Devon, 1976)
Phyllis Eleanor Pinsent: 1907 – 1920
Victor William Pinsent: 1909 – 1983 (Married Mavis Beatrice Victoria Bignall, Plymouth Devon, 1940)
Marjorie Rosetta Bessie Pinsent: 1912 – 1973
Lena Pauline Pinsent: 1915 – xxxx (Married Herbert George Rowe, Plymouth, Devon, 1936)
Florence Audrey Pinsent: 1917 – xxxx (Married John Alexander Norris, Plymouth, Devon, 1939)
Family Branch: Bovey Tracey
PinsentID: GRO0778
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Samuel George Caleb Pinsent was the second son of Samuel Pinsent by his wife Sarah Jane (née West). Samuel George was born, and grew up in, Plymouth with one surviving brother (William Abraham West Pinsent) and six surviving sisters, three of whom were later to marry. The city was home to the Royal Navy’s “Devonport” dockyards, which serviced the ships Britain used to project its maritime power around the globe and, although Samuel George’s father became an “upholsterer,” there was a strong maritime tradition in this branch of the Pinsent family. Samuel George had three paternal uncles who served in the Royal Navy from the the mid 1850s to the 1890s. Their lives are described elsewhere. Samuel George’s brother (William Abraham West Pinsent) and two of his cousins (John Samuel Pinsent and Frederick Christopher Pinsent) also joined the Navy.
Samuel George was caught “scrumping” (stealing) apples while he was still a teenager and was up before the Plymouth magistrates in 1889 (Plymouth Magistrates Court Summary Convictions: Findmypast). They fined him 10s. He was an “errand boy” living in the family home at 31 Morley Place two years later, when the 1891 census was taken, and a “labourer” when he joined the Royal Navy as a “B2C” (Boy, 2nd Class) shortly thereafter.
When he signed up, Samuel George was said to be 5 ft. 2 7/8 in. tall, with brown eyes and hair and a ruddy complexion. He had no distinguishing features – at that time at any rate. He was upgraded to “B1C” (Boy, 1st Class) in August 1892 and was sent to sea. He had several short postings and then joined “H.M.S. Impregnable”. From there, he was sent to “H.M.S. Boscawen” (the boys training ship based at Portland in the Solent) in November 1893 and then to the shore station at “H.M.S. Vivid I” for a few days the following March. At that point he had served his apprenticeship and was old enough to formally sign up.
Samuel George joined the “senior service” for twelve years on 4th March 1894 (National Archives: ADM 188/244: #168270). He was promoted to “ordinary seaman” and posted to “H.M.S. Warspite”, (a wind and steam driven armoured cruiser) on 1st March 1894. A year or so later, on 9th April 1895, he was transferred to “H.M.S. Retribution” .
That June (1895), Samuel George was promoted to “able seaman” and posted to “H.M.S. Impregnable” (another training ship). Unfortunately, he suffered from sciatica (see below) while there, and was invalided out to Plymouth Hospital “per Vivid I” on 5th September 1895 and left the Navy. While serving, his character was invariable rated at “VG” – (very good): so ended Samuel George’s military service. Fortunately, he was eligible for a pension (Naval and Military Records and Royal Dockyards Gazette: 12th September 1895).
When he returned to civilian life, Samuel George took a job as a “street gas lamp-lighter” and walked the streets with a ladder and pole. Time had moved on while he had been in the navy and gas lighting in the streets was in fairly common use towards the end of the Victorian era.
Samuel George married Florence Edith Louise Hill, the daughter of a deceased “carpenter and joiner” in January 1897 and the census takers found them living on Wellington Street, in the Greenbank district of Plymouth when they made their rounds in 1901. They had had three daughters by then. They were, eventually, to have seven girls and two boys.
Samuel problems with sciatica and kidney disease continued long after he left the Royal Navy. Fortunately, he found a cure in “Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills”. He was so happy with the results, that he wrote a letter to the manufacturers extolling their virtue and they were all too happy to share it with the public at large: It reads: … “31 Morley Place, Plymouth, 22nd January. 1902. “Dear Sir, — l am anxious that you should know what a wonderful cure your Dean’s Backache Kidney Pills have worked in my case. I suffered from sciatica for years, and had almost given up hope of ever getting better. I was bent nearly double with the pains in my side and back and I could not walk many yards without resting. I had tried other medicines before I used yours, but not one bit of good did they do me. But I received very quick relief from Doan’s Pills. Altogether I have used 13 boxes of your medicine, and now I am well; the sciatica is quite gone, and I can walk splendidly. Seven of my friends are now using your pills, because they have been convinced of the medicine’s merits, by my cure. I believe in speaking as I find of a medicine, and I can honestly say that Doan’s Pills may be relied upon for kidney troubles. It you care to make use of my statement, you may do so with pleasure. I am well known in Plymouth, having lived in the same house for the past. 26 years. Believe me, dear sirs, yours faithfully, S. PINSENT” (Orcadian: Saturday 13th February 1904)
At the manufacturer’s request, he seems to have written another letter in 1906. It was included in an advertisement that, needless to say, waxed lyrical about the product. In it, he says: … “I am sure there are many others in Plymouth suffering as I did, who will be glad to come across a medicine which not only cures, but cures to stay cured. For a long time I was a victim of sciatica, and just before I used Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills I was so ill that I almost gave up hope of every getting better. Doan’s pills drove my trouble completely away, and, out of gratitude, I sent a testimonial for the medicine. This was several months ago, yet I have remained in perfect health ever since. I haven’t lost any opportunity of recommending Doan’s Backache Kidney Pills, nor shall I do so, for I have every confidence in the medicine.”… The letter was referred to in several advertisements published by the manufacturers (“six boxes for thirteen and nine-pence” which may be had of all chemists and stores…) over the years (Western Morning News: Wednesday 10th January 1906).
By 1911, Samuel George’s family had grown through the addition of two sons and another daughter, and it had moved to a presumably larger house on Neath Road. While lighting lamps, Samuel George had trained to be a “cordwainer” and he was a “journeyman boot maker” when his son Leslie Samuel was born in 1904. He had become a “master shoemaker” by the time his daughter Phyllis Eleanor arrived in 1907 and when his second son, Victor William turned up in 1909. The Census takers put him down as a “boot worker operating on his own account” when they caught up with him in 1911. Samuel George and Florence Edith had been married for sixteen years and had had six children by then. They were all still living. Three more daughters were still to come! It is worth noting that the non-conformist streak in the family was strong enough to include baptisms and all but the two eldest children were christened according to Non-conformist rites. Non-conformity also shows up in the use of the names “Abraham” and “Caleb”.
In the early 1910s, Samuel George left Neath Road and set up in business at 64 Salisbury Road in Plymouth. He made, sold and repaired boots and shoes from there between 1914 and 1923 (Kelly’s Directory for Devonshire: 1923). According the the 1921 census, Samuel George and Florence still had seven children living with them. Their daughters Edith and Lilian operated a “green grocery” business out of the family home, while Irene was a “general domestic” employed by a “Mrs. Wolmington” at the “Headland College School.” Their son Leslie assisted his father in making and repairing boots and shoes, and their younger children Victor, Marjorie and Audrey were “at school.” Presumably Lena, who was only six years old would have been living at home had she not been a patient at Plymouth “Borough Isolation Hospital.” Phyllis Eleanor had died the previous year.
Irene Louise had been in Swindon in December 1919. I do not know why; perhaps she was visiting family. However, she seems to have helped out in a Jubilee Bazaar in aid of the local Wesleyan Chapel (Swindon Advertiser and North Wilts. Chronicle: Friday 5th December 1919).
Most of Samuel George’s daughters married during the 1920s and/or 1930s. Edith May married a “postman” in 1923 and her younger sister Irene Louise married a “professor of music” the following year. He must have been quite a catch. Lillian Beatrice married a “bus driver” in 1929. Lena Pauline, who was quite a few years younger, married a “decorator” according to the rites of the Church of England in 1936. The family does not seem to have been overly committed to Non-conformity. Florence Audrey married a “baker” earlier in 1939.
#64 Salisbury Road was still the family home family in 1932-1933 (Plymouth and District Post Office Directory 1932 -1933) and the Wartime Register shows that the family was still there in 1939. By then, Saumuel George’s elder son Leslie Samuel Pinsent was by then a “woodworker and frame-maker” and their younger son, Victor William Pinsent, was a “boot repairer.” Presumably he worked with his father. Their sister Marjorie Rosetta Bessie had yet to marry and she too was living with her parents.
Samuel George Caleb Pinsent, a “retired boot maker” of Salisbury Road in Plymouth, died in May 1951 and probate was granted to Robert Martin Bennett (who was probably a solicitor) and Reginald Joseph Wootton, one of his sons-in-law. Reginald had married Lillian Beatrice. The executors put a notice in the London Gazette (28th October 1952) asking for creditors to contact them. Samuel George’s “effects” were valued at £1,190 7s 7d. Whether his nephew William Oliver Bristow Pinsent was a beneficiary or not I do not know. Sadly, he died in London later the same year (England and Wales: National Probate Calendar: 1858 – 1966: Ancestry.com). Samuel’s widow, Florence Edith Pinsent stayed on at #64 Salisbury Road for a few more years and died there in March 1959.
Leslie Samuel Pinsent: Samuel George and Florence’s eldest son was born and brought up in Plymouth with a younger brother, Victor William Pinsent, and several sisters. He married but, as far as I am aware, had no children. His life is described below.
Leslie was born in 1904 and was living at home with his parents in 1911 and also in 1921, when he helped out his father repairing boots and shoes. He was still living on Salisbury Road with them when the Wartime Register was compiled in 1939. At that point, he was a “wood worker and frame maker.” He had graduated to being a “cabinet maker” by the time he married Lucy Nahas, in Plymouth Registry Office, in August 1951. Why he left it so long to marry, I do not know. Lucy was the divorced ex-wife of Arthur Matthews. I am not ware of any children. Lucy Pinsent died in Plymouth in the summer of 1972.
Leslie Samuel married Olwyn Beryl Trestrail, in Plymouth, in 1976; however, the marriage was short lived as he died later the same year. They were living at #3 Quarry Cottages in Honicknowle in Plymouth. His estate was processed and probate granted in Bristol in January 1977 (Calendar Index of Wills and Administration; 1967 – 1995: Ancestry.com). Olywn Pinsent stayed on in Plymouth after his death and died there in September 1991. I do not know if she had been previously married; however, as Leslie was over seventy and she was over fifty when they married, there was little likely hood of them having children.
Samuel George Caleb and Florence’s younger son, Victor William Pinsent did marry and have children. His life and times are discussed elsewhere.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1806 – 1839
Grandmother: Mary Mugford: 1808 – 1850
PARENTS
Father: Samuel Pinsent: 1839 – 1912
Mother: Sarah Jane West: 1946 – 1931
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
John Pinsent: 1831 – 1908
Sarah Jane Pinsent: 1832 – 1916
Mary Ann Pinsent: 1834 – 1850
Thomas Pinsent: 1835 – 1884
William Pinsent: 1837 – xxxx
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
William Abraham West Pinsent: 1872 – 1958
Samuel George Caleb Pinsent: 1875 – 1951
Thomas Charles Pinsent: 1886 – 1889
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