Vital Statistics
James Pinsent: 1839 – 1905 GRO0448 (House painter, Torquay, Devon)
1. Mary Louisa Morrish: 1842 – 1873
Married: 1866: Starcross, Devon
Children by Mary Louisa Morrish:
Annie Louisa Pinsent: 1867 – 1951 (Married William Stephens, Durban, Natal, South Africa, 1890)
Arthur James Pinsent: 1870 – 1870
Nellie Emmeline Pinsent: 1872 – 1885
2. Selina Loney: 1839 – 1929
Married: 1875: London, Middlesex
Family Branch: Teignmouth
PinsentID: GRO0448
References
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James Pinsent was the second to youngest son of John Pinsent by his wife, Susanna (née Morrish). He was born in Kingsteignton in Devon in 1839. His father had been trained as a “baker” but he had transitioned into being a “schoolmaster. ” He got into financial trouble and, was lodged in the “Sheriff’s Ward for Debtors” in Cowick Street, in St. Thomas’s parish, Exeter, when the census takers made their rounds in 1851. His son James, meanwhile, was living with his mother Susanna and some of his siblings in the nearby village of Exminster. She was trying, with the help of her eldest son, John Pinsent, to make ends meet as a “gardener.” James as a “scholar. John had sorted out his financial issues by 1857 and Kelly’s Directory shows that he was running a “day school” on Upper Brook Street, in Teignmouth.
James was living with a “journeyman bricklayer” and his wife and their daughter in St. Sidwell Parish, in Exete when the census takers returned in 1861. Her was an unmarried lodger and “painter” who claimed to have been born in Bovey Tracey – he was, in fact, born in Kingsteignton.
James Pinsent married Mary Louisa Morrish in Starcross District Chapel (near Exmouth) in 1866. She was the eldest daughter of “Captain Morrish” (Western Times: Friday 27th April 1866) and may, somehow, have been related to James’s mother who had, of course, been born “Susanna Morrish”. The marriage took place in a Baptist chapel – which is a useful reminder that there was an undercurrent of non-conformity in the family. They had three children in the years that followed.
James and Mary Louisa’s first child, Annie Louisa Pinsent, was born while the family was living at “#14 Lucius Street” in Torquay in 1867. It was a leasehold property that they held until around 1900 (England & Wales Electoral Registers 1832-1932: Findmypast). The family was living there when the census was taken, in 1871. However, on this occasion James was (incorrectly) named as “John”. He was said to be a “painter.” In fact, he was a “house painter” and he could hardly have found a better place to ply his trade. Torquay, like many other coastal towns towards the end of the nineteenth century, it was in the midst of a housing boom that started with the arrival of the railway. It gave city workers a relatively cheap way of getting to the seaside where they could take a short break from their smoky cities. It is not for nothing that Torquay was home to “Fawlty Towers.” The railway line to Newton Abbot and points north and east was opened in 1848.
James’s second child, Arthur James Pinsent, was born in Torquay in 1870. Unfortunately, he died there later the same year. His third, Nellie Emmeline Pinsent, arrived in 1872. Sadly, James’s wife, Mary Louisa (née Morrish) died four months later. She was buried in St. Paul’s Churchyard in Starcross in January 1873. You can find a photograph of her headstone online at www.findagrave.
James had a young daughter and an infant to look after and he married Selina Loney, in Claremont Chapel, in Holborn, in London in May 1875. She came from Wellington, in Somerset. The family stayed on in Torquay and it was still living on “Lucius Street” when the census takers next made their rounds, in 1881. James seems to have been doing very well for himself. He was then employing three workers and he had an unmarried female live-in “servant.” James and Selina never had any children of their own. Nellie died in Torquay in September 1885, which left James with one remaining daughter, Annie Louisa Pinsent.
Annie Louisa married William Stephens, the eldest son of a “Police Superintendent” in St. Paul’s Church in Durban, in Natal, South Africa. What she was doing in South Africa, I have no idea (The Times: Saturday 8th February 1890)! Nevertheless, they had returned to England by 1905 and were living in Lewisham near London by 1911.
Coincidentally, the day before her wedding, Mr. James Pinsent of “Lucius Street” had been granted a renewal of this petroleum license by the “Torquay Local Board” (Torquay Times and South Devon Advertiser: Friday 7th February 1890). It seems highly unlikely that James was an early subscriber to the newfangled motor vehicles that were then being introduced and tried out around the country. I think it is more likely that he used it as a solvent! Presumably he needed a license as it is highly flammable.
James kept on working in Torquay. The 1890 Devon History, Gazetteer and Directory shows: “James Pincent, 14 Lucius St. T (Torquay)” listed with the Torquay “painters, paperhangers and decorators,” so he had obviously branched out into home decoration. James only had a lease on the “Lucius Street” house, so he bought a house of his own on “Lisburn Terrace”, on “Polsham Road” in nearby Paignton in around 1900. This was a short distance around the coast from Torquay. James and Selina were living there when the 1901 census was taken. They later moved to “#5 Gerston Road” in Paignton, and that was where he was living when he died, very suddenly, in December 1905.
A local newspaper reported a: “Sudden Death at Torquay: Yesterday Mr. S. Hacker held an inquest at the Upton Parish Rooms. Torquay, concerning the death of James Pinsent, age 66, a painter and house decorator, of Paignton, who suddenly dropped dead in Belgrave-road, Torquay, the previous day. The evidence showed that deceased had previously suffered from heart, disease, and Mr. A. E. Hows, surgeon, said death was caused by syncope, due to valvular disease of the heart. A verdict in accordance with the medical evidence was given” (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Thursday 21st December 1905). His will was probated in Exeter by his daughter Annie Louisa Stephens (née Pinsent) and Samuel Thomas Jerman a “house-agent’s clerk” the following February.
Selina Pinsent was living on “Croft Terrace” in Paignton in 1911. However, she must have kept the apartment on “Gerston Road” (Kelly’s Directory for Devonshire, 1923) as she was living there with her step-daughter, Annie Louise Stephens when the 1921 census was taken. She died there in 1929. Her funeral service was held at the Congregational Church in Paignton on 11th November 1912 (Torbay Express and South Devon Echo: Friday 8th November 1929). Samuel Thomas Jerman and Thomas Henry Garge arranged for her will’s probate (Calendar of Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration: Ancestry.com).
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: John Pinsent: 1773 – xxxx
Grandmother: Sarah Hill: xxxx – 1839
Parents
Father: John Pinsent: 1799 – 1878
Mother: Susanna Morrish: 1799 – 1875
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
John Pinsent: 1799 – 1878
Joseph Pinsent: 1800 – xxxx
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1804 – 1851
Mary Pinsent: 1807 – 1854
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Joseph Pinsent: 1830 – 1840
John L. Pinsent: 1833 – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1837 – 1881
James Pinsent: 1839 – 1905
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