John Pinsent: 1668 – 1725 DRO0178 (Vicar of Digswell in Hertfordshire)
Dorothy Delmas: xxxx – 1705/6
Married: 1701; London Middlesex
Children by Dorothy Delmas:
John Pinsent: 1704 – 1776
Family Branch: Combe
PinsentID: DRO0178
John was the second surviving son of William and Mary Pinsent of Colebrooke in Devon. Although his baptismal record is missing, his parentage is clear. After first attending a school in Crediton, John Pinsent “the son of William, gent. deceased, b. at Colebrooke” was, at the age of 17 years, admitted to St. John’s College in Cambridge. He received his B.A in 1697, he was ordained priest in Lincoln, on 22nd September 1700 and was appointed vicar of Codicote, Herts, in 1715. He died there in 1725 (Alumni Cantabrigiensis: Vol 1-3:)
John married Dorothy Delmas in St. Mary Magdalen Church on Fish Street in London 13th June 1701. The marriage banns show that he came from Colebrooke, and that she was from Digswell in Hertfordshire. The couple had a son, John, in Digswell in 1704. His life is discussed elsewhere.
Sadly, Dorothy died in 1705. She was buried in St. John the Evangelist Church in Digswell where there is a memorial slab embedded in the floor that says (albeit in Latin): “In pious memory of Dorothea, most beloved wife of John Pinsent and dutiful daughter of Peter and Catherine Delmas, of outstanding beauty, not only in appearance but also in character, blessed with endowments of body and mind, she was a truly a gift from the gods. But whether she was more outstanding for these ornaments than for her modesty, it is not easy to say. Mother of one son, she died much lamented by those that knew her, on 18th January in the year of our Lord 1705 at the age of 20.” There is nothing to suggest that John ever remarried, so his son may have been brought up by other members of his mother’s family (Correspondence from the vicar of Digswell via Sheila Pinsent, 1990s).
The Reverend John was first appointed curate of the nearby village of Datchworth in 1707 (Findmypast: Datchworth Parish Records). He became Vicar of Codicote in November 1715 and held the appointment until he died. There is not much known about his life. He wrote his last Will and Testament in 1723 and asked to be buried in Digswell, near his wife. He also asked that all his “real and personal estate, that is to say all that my estate in the parish of Colebrooke in the County of Devon called (by) the name of Great and Little Heale, all the tenement I in my own or his name and right, have in and of Jonathan Whitings, lately deceased, in the parish and manor of Lilley in Hertfordshire …” along with a mortgage held on a property in Welwyn, Hertfordshire should go to his son – subject to a few relatively minor bequests.
The Reverend John gave forty shillings each to the poor of Codicote, and Digswell, and a quarter of a year’s rent from Great Heale in Devon to be equally split between his two sister, Mary Tremlett and Deborah Berry. He gave other legacies too, including one pound a year for twenty years for the Vicar of the parish of Colebrooke to pay for the schooling of two poor children and see that they are catechized. He gave a similar amount to the vicars of Codicote, Little Dachworth, Welwyn for the same purpose.
John recognized that his son could, conceivably, die underage, and he added a bequest that in that eventuality his four sisters, Elizabeth Berry, Anne Dyer, Mary Tremlett and Deborah Berry should split his estate in Colebrooke between them. John then appointed his brother-in-law, Reverend Samuel Hassell, of Digswell, and Richard Skrine Esq. of Warley by Bath, as his executors, and he signed and sealed the document on 17th October 1723 (Devon Records Office: cc 211/52). I do not know what seal he used.
When the Reverend John Pinsent died in 1725, his son – who was then also planning on becoming a clergyman – acquired his father’s estate at Great Heale in Colebrooke and his property in Codicote.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: William Pinsent: 1580 – 1664
Grandmother: Deuns (?) Noseworthy: xxxx – 1653
Parents
Father: William Pinsent: 1622 – 1677
Mother: Mary Burrington: xxxx – xxxx
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1613 – xxxx
Thomasine Pinsent: 1616 – xxxx
Agnes Pinsent: 1622 – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1622 – 1677
Male Siblings (Brothers)
William Pinsent: 1662 – 1663
William Pinsent: 1663 – xxxx
John Pinsent: 1668 – 1725
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