Category: Tiverton

Thomas Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860 GRO0839 (Cordwainer, Loughborough, Leicestershire)

Hannah Johnson: 1800 – 1871
Married: Tiverton, Devon: 1820

Children by Hannah Johnson:

Fanny Pinsent: 1820 – 1880 (Married Charles Belton, 1843, Leicester, Leicestershire)
William Pinsent: 1822 – xxxx
Thomas Pinsent: 1824 – 1831
Caroline Pinsent: 1825 – 1864 (Married William Abel, 1848, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)
James Pinsent: 1831 – 1902 (Married Emma Jackson, 1856, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – 1833
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – xxxx (Married James Johnson, Leicester, Leicestershire)
John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899 (Married Elizabeth Johnson, 1855, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)
Henry Pinsent: 1838 – 1846
George Pinsent: 1839 – 1857
Charles Pinsent: 1842 – 1882 (Married Susannah Bagshaw, 1864, Leicester, Leicestershire)

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0839

Thomas Pinsent was the second eldest son of James Pinsent by his wife Hannah Brimson. He was born in Tiverton and was brought up to be a “shoemaker” or – according to then current parlance –“cordwainer,” although whether by apprenticeship in Tiverton, or elsewhere, I am not sure. He may have learned the trade in Leicestershire which, with the coming of the “Industrial Revolution” was developing into a major centre for the manufacture of boots and shoes.

Thomas married a girl from Shepshed near Loughborough, in Leicestershire. He married Hannah Johnson in Tiverton in 1820 and they had their first six children (three boys and three girls) while living there. They then moved to Hannah’s hometown of Loughborough in 1834 or 1835 and had five more children (a girl and four boys) there. In all, they had eleven over a period of twenty-two years, of whom at least three sons, James Pinsent, John Pinsent and Charles Pinsent  and three daughters, Fanny Pinsent, Caroline Pinsent and Elizabeth Pinsent grew up to become adults and married. Interestingly, their children John and Elizabeth both seem to have married into of their mother’s (?) presumably extended “Johnson” family. The three boys established well-defined lines of descent, each of which will be reviewed in turn.

What happened to the fourth son, William Pinsent is unknown. He drops out of the picture sometime after 1841. That year’s census shows that Thomas and his wife Hannah and their children were living on Holland Street in Loughborough. Thomas was reported to be a “cordwainer” (shoemaker) and his wife and two elder children, Fanny and William, were also said to be involved in the shoe trade. Ten years later, the next census tells us that the family had moved to Barrow Street in Loughborough. By then, Thomas’s two elder children had moved on and James, his eldest then resident son, was also a “cordwainer”. By 1851, Thomas and Hannah had lost two sons; Thomas had died in Tiverton in 1831 aged 4 years and Henry had died in 1846, aged 8 years (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 14th February 1846). George was to die in 1857, aged 18 years (Nottingham Guardian: Thursday 29th July 1857). In the latter two cases, the newspapers refer to the children’s father as “Mr. Thomas Pinsent” – which suggests that he had some social standing in the local community.

Thomas’s daughter Caroline married William Able, a mechanic from New Radford in Nottingham in 1848, and emigrated to the United States of America. She died in Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, in 1864.

Thomas made boots and he periodically ran a boot and shoe stall in the market at Ashby De La Zouch, a small county town in Leicestershire. In August 1854, he noticed “two decently dressed little girls” eyeing up his wares, and a nearby stall-keeper later saw them steal two pairs of boots when his back was turned. They were valued at 10 shillings. The stall-keeper alerted Thomas who rounded up a police constable and they followed the miscreants out of town and apprehended them as they walked home. They had the boots in their possession and they made an appearance at the next “Petty Sessions”. The father was also present. He was severely admonished for neglecting his children and his for excessive drinking, and the girls were fined 5s each with £1 4s 6d in costs (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 2nd September 1854).

In December in the previous year Thomas had hired a horse for his visit to Ashby and by some mishap or other it acquired a deep gash in the inside of a fetlock, and although Thomas dressed the wound before he returned it, it had to be put down. The disgruntled owner sued Thomas for £7 6s at “Loughborough Petty Sessions”. The latter explained that horse had fallen on the way home. A local veterinary surgeon thought that unlikely but the Magistrate knew better and accepted Thomas’s version of events.  He gave judgment for the defendant (Leicestershire Mercury: Saturday 18th February 1854).

Thomas probably knew a thing or two about horses. He had a pony that participated in a closely-contested race for a bridle as a prize on Finney Hill in 1851. It was beaten by half a length in the third heat (Derby Mercury: Wednesday 24th September 1851).

Thomas was a keen gardener and he did exceptionally well at the “Loughborough Cultural Fete” in 1857, after it restarted after a short break. Thomas did well with his flowers (Roses, Pansies, Sweet Williams and Wild Flowers), his fruits (Gooseberries, Red and Black Currants) and his vegetables (Potatoes, Parsley and Rhubarb). Hannah seems to have claimed credit for “six onions (spring sown)”. There were, perhaps, fewer competitors than might have been hoped for in the Amateur Class but give credit where it is due (Leicester Journal: Friday 31st July 1857). Presumably Mr. Thomas Pinsent had retired back to his garden. He was described as being a “master bootmaker” when he died in Moor Lane in Loughborough in 1860.

His widow, Hannah, stayed on in Moor Lane with her unmarried son, Charles Pinsent – and that was where the Census takers came by the following year. It was probably Charles who played for the “Moor Lane Cricket Club” when it played “Loughborough High School” in September 1856 (Leicestershire Mercury Saturday 27th September 1854. He married in 1864. Hannah held on for few more years. In 1871 (Census) she was described as being a widow and “finisher of marino (woolen) goods,” lodging with another widow on Wellington Street in Loughborough. She died there in November 1871 (Leicester Journal: Thursday 16th November 1871).

Family Tree

GRANDPARENTS

Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1738 – 1825
Grandmother: Anne Wright: 1740 – 1815

PARENTS

Father: James Pinsent: 1769 – 1833
Mother: Hannah Brimson: 1766 – xxxx

FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES) 

James Pinsent: 1769 – 1833  ✔️
Mary Pinsent: 1771 – xxxx
Dorothy Pinsent: xxxx – 1590
Benjamin Pinsent: 1776 – 1819
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1776 – xxxx

MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)

William Pinsent: 1792 – 1844
Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860 ✔️
Richard Pinsent: 1799 – xxxx

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Thomas Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Thomas Pinsent: 1885 – 1976 GRO0832 (Soldier, Carpenter and Joiner, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)

Lily Gertrude Elliott: 1886 – 1968
Married: 1906: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Children by Lily Gertrude Elliott:

Eveline Gertrude Pinsent: 1906 – 1980 (Married Ronald Bruce King, 1933, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)
Arthur Edward Thomas Pinsent: 1908 – 1964 (Married Dolly Blood, 1937,  Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)
Frederick Henry Pinsent: 1910 – 1999 (Married Doris Hutton, 1936, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)
James William Pinsent: 1912 – 1999 (Married Elizabeth Brunt, 1936, Basford, Nottinghamshire)
Rose Lilian Pinsent: 1916 – 1919
Joyce Lilian Pinsent: 1924 – xxxx
Frank Pinsent: 1926 – 2001 (Married Alice Insley, 1949, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire)

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0832

References

Newspapers

Thomas was the only surviving son of James Pinsent by his wife, Emma Elizabeth (née Poxon). He was born in Nottingham and must have been approximately six years old when his parents split up.  Thomas went to live with his mother and her parents, while his father took up with Emma (née Hubbard) in around 1892 and started a second family. They seem to have had several children before they married in 1898. In all, James and Emma had five children, who were Thomas’s half-brothers and his half-sister. How much Thomas saw of them is unclear. Thomas’s mother, Emma Elizabeth, died in 1892 and he was then brought-up by his Poxon grandparents. They ran a public house called the “Four Arms” in Plumtree Square in Nottingham.

Thomas was a “shoe hand” when he left school but was a “joiner” when he married Lily Gertrude Elliott, in 1906. Sixty years later, the Nottingham Evening Post (Wednesday 13th April 1966) printed their photograph with some of Thomas’s recollections. Evidently, he had been working in Radford on the day he married and he had to hurry  to St. Ann’s Church in Nottingham for the wedding on foot. He had continued to work as a “joiner”  and the newspaper article says had an active interest in the “Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, which he joined after service in the First World War. For many years he worked in the shop-fitting department at Boots. Mr. and Mrs. Pinsent have five of their seven children still living, 15 grandchildren and ten great-great-grandchildren.”

The couple had their seven children (four boys and three girls) over a period of twenty years. The three eldest, Eveline Gertrude, Arthur Edward Thomas and Frederick Henry were born before the 1910 Census – which shows that Thomas was a  “carpenter” and “lace machine maker,” and that the family lived on Martin Street in Nottingham. Their third son, James William Pinsent, was born in 1912 and the fourth, Frank, arrived after the War, in 1926.

Thomas and Lily were living on Rose Street, in Nottingham, in December 1915 when Thomas joined the army. He signed on to serve for the duration of the war. His “Attestation” and other Army Papers show that he was 5 feet and 0 inches tall, and that he had a scar beside his right eye. Thomas was assigned to the “Labour Corps” (Regimental Number #194466) where he saw service in England with the 347 (HS) Works Company based in West Hartlepool, in Durham. He appears to have had relatively short-term postings to the “Royal Engineers”, “West Yorkshire Regiment”, “Durham Light Infantry” and other units. Presumably, he was sent where he was needed. There were advantages in being based close to home! His daughter, Rose Lillian Pinsent was born and baptized in Nottingham in December 1916 while he was a Private (“joiner”) in the “Durham Light Infantry”. In November 1917, The “Royal Engineers” had the decency to certify him as a “Proficient Joiner,” which must have helped after the war.  Thomas was demobilized on 14th November 1919. Unfortunately, his daughter Rose had died a few months earlier. She was a victim of the flu epidemic that ravaged Europe in 1919.

Thomas returned to Nottingham after the war, and became a “house builder” and “joiner.” His family were still living on Rose Street, and his two youngest children, Joyce Lillian Pinsent and Frank Pinsent were born there. Thomas was working for “J. W. Stamp & Co., Builders of Union Road in Nottingham” on a housing project at Thorking when the census takers came visiting in 1921. His wife, was, of course, employed with household duties and his three sons were at school.

His eldest child, his daughter, Evelyn had left school by then and was creating lace patterns for “T. I. Birkin, Lace Manufacturers, of Broadway Nottingham.” She later became a “dressmaker” and married Ronald Bruce King, a “dispatch clerk” at a brewery, in Nottingham in 1933 (Nottingham Evening Post: Saturday 4th March 1933). Her sister, Joyce Lillian Pinsent was to become a “tobacco machinist.” She married Jack Ward, an “electrician”, in Nottingham in 1947.  Thomas and Lily Gertrude’s four boys, Arthur Edward Thomas, Frederick Henry, James William and Frank Pinsent also married. Their lives are discussed elsewhere.

Thomas and Lily Gertrude were living with their still school-age son, Frank, on Oxclose Lane in Nottingham when the war-time register was compiled in 1939. Thomas was still a carpenter. Lily Gertrude died in Nottingham in 1968 and her husband placed memorial and postmortem birthday notices in the local papers for several years after (Nottingham Evening Post: Monday 5th January 1970; Nottingham Evening Post: Monday 29th March 1971) etc.. Thomas died in 1976 aged ninety years old.

Family Tree

GRANDPARENTS

Grandfather: James Pinsent: 1831 – 1902
Grandmother: Emma Jackson: 1831 – 1903

PARENTS

Father: James Pinsent: 1862 – 1936
Mother: Emma Elizabeth Poxon: 1865 – 1892

FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES) 

Hannah Martha Pinsent: 1857 – xxxx
Georgiana Pinsent: 1859 – 1925
James Pinsent: 1862 – 1936 ✔️
Adrian Pinsent: 1864 – 1945
Fanny Pinsent: 1866 – 1940
Charlotte Ann Pinsent: 1868 – xxxx
Emily Pinsent: 1870 – xxxx
Arthur Edwin Pinsent:  1872 – 1938

MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS, Half-BROTHERS)

Thomas Pinsent: 1885 – 1976 ✔️
James Pinsent: 1886 – 1886
Arthur Pinsent: 1888 – 1889

James Pinsent: 1892 – 1972
Arthur Pinsent: 1894 – 1940
Albert Pinsent: 1896 – 1980
Lawrence Pinsent: 1899 – 1991

Also:

Henry Pinsent: 1884 – xxxx (?)
George Pinsent: 1886 – xxxx (?)
Ernest Pinsent: 1891 – xxxx (?)

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Thomas Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Thomas Pinsent: 1738 – 1825 GRO0458 (Tiverton, Devon)

Anne Wright: 1740 – 1815
Married: 1768: Whimple, Devon

Children by Anne Wright:

James Pinsent: 1769 – 1833 (Married Hannah Brimson, 1791, Tiverton)
Mary Pinsent: 1771 – xxxx
Benjamin Pinsent: 1776 – 1819 (Married Esther Best, 1792, Bloomsbury, London)
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1776 – xxxx

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0458

Thomas appears to have been the only son of Thomas Pinsent by his wife Mary (née Knott). He was born in Tiverton in 1738 and married Anne Wright in Whimple in Devon in 1768. They had at least two sons, James Pinsent in 1769 and Benjamin Pinsent in 1776.

Thomas was a “carpenter” and probably also a “cabinetmaker.” He took Humphrey Dunster on as his apprentice in 1777, and similarly acquired Fras. Sealy in 1791 (U.K. Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures: 1910-1811). His elder son, James, stayed on in Tiverton; however, his younger son, Benjamin, went up to London where he married and established a major subsidiary branch of the family.

Anne (née Wright) died in Tiverton in 1815 and Thomas Pinsent died there a  decade later, in 1825.

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PARENTS

Father: Thomas Pinsent: 1709 – 1773
Mother: Mary Knott: xxxx- xxxx

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Thelma Gladys Muriel Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Birth: 1921
Marriage: 1940
Spouse: George Albert Gillett
Death: 2004

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0828

Family Tree

Grandparents

Grandfather: Henry Pinsent: 1871 – 1939
Grandmother: Elizabeth Phillis: 1872 – 1913

Parents

Father: Harry Pinsent: 1896 – 1957
Mother: Dorothy Gladys Hope: 1900 – xxxx

Father’s Siblings and Half-siblings (Aunts, Uncles)

John Harry Pinsent: 1892 – xxxx
Vincent Horace Pinsent: 1893 – 1893
Arthur Ellis Pinsent: 1895 – 1895
Harry Pinsent: 1896 – 1957
Horace Pinsent: 1897 – 1898
Jack Pinsent: 1899 – 1899
Eliza Pinsent: 1900 – 1902
George Pinsent: 1901 – 1902
Florence Louisa Pinsent: 1903 – 1930

Violet Wilkinson Pinsent: 1909 – xxxx
John Pinsent: 1911 – xxxx
Hilda Pinsent: 1914 – xxxx

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Stephen Ernest Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Birth: 1957
Marriage: N/A
Spouse: N/A
Death: 2022

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0816

Stephen Ernest Pinsent studied at Bosworth College in Desford, near Leicester, on leaving school and he swum, intermittently, for the “Bosworthians” in the mide-1970s. From there, he joined “South Yorkshire Fire Service”. Once he was employed, he found it increasingly difficult to train and swim competitively. Nevertheless, he swam for the South Yorkshire Fire Service at a “National Fire Service” meet at Stetchford, in Birmingham, in November 1975. He won the 100 metres freestyle event (Leicester Daily Mercury: 11th November 1975). Stephen switched to long-distance swimming and for several years represented the South Yorkshire Fire Service at the National Fire Service “National One Mile Swim” on the Thames at Reading. He was remarkably successful. He won the event in 1976, came second in 1977, 1978 and 1979 and won it again in 1980 (Reading Evening Post: Monday 18th August 1980). Not content with that, he also won it in 1981 and 1982 (Reading Evening Post: Monday 16th August 1982). 

Stephen moved into fire prevention and safety side of the Fire Service and rose quickly. In 1991, he was the assistant divisional officer who worked with Peter Day in coordinating the Fire Service response to a simulated air crash at Fairoaks Airport at Ottershaw (Staines and Ashford News: Thursday 23rd May 1991). Presumably this helped the service establish protocols. 

At some point in the 1990s, Stephen seems to have moved back to Leicestershire and he was on-hand to calm local fears when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) blew up part of the Docklands east of London and injured 100 people. At a news conference, Inspector Geoff King, of the Leicestershire Police force said: “We are always vigilant and mindful of possible terrorist incidents” and Stephen Pinsent, the Divisional Commander in charge of fire and safety for “Leicestershire Fire Safety and Rescue Service” said: “We will be carrying on with the procedures we have always undertaken” (Leicester Daily Mercury: Saturday 10th February 1996). I hope the public were mollified.

In fact, the Government upgraded its Corporate Workplace (Fire Precautions) regulations the following year and to forestall public confusion Stephen Pinsent, Leicestershire’s Divisional Officer in charge of fire safety said there would be no change until the new regulations were formally announced; however, “New fire extinguisher regulations have already come into force due to European Standards, but existing extinguishers need not be replaced until absolutely necessary” (Hinckley Herald & Journal: Wednesday 15th January 1997).

Stephen left the Fire Safety and Rescue Service and became the University of Leicester’s Fire Safety Officer in 2008. It was a position he held until 2017. According to the University’s obituary, Steve had served with the West Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Surrey and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Services prior to joining the university. He was a valued member of its Safety Services Office. 

Family Tree

GRANDPARENTS

Grandfather: Arthur Ernest Pinsent: 1899 – 1969
Grandmother: Lily Gallifant: 1900 – 1994

PARENTS

Father: Ernest Pinsent: 1926 – 2021
Mother: Florence May Goode: 1926 – 1987

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Stephen Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Birth: 1946
Marriage: 1987
Spouse: Janet Harriman
Death: 2009

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0814

Family Tree

Grandparents

Grandfather: Horace Pinsent: 1879 – 1949
Grandmother: Eveline Maud Holt: 1879 – 1946

Parents

Father: John Holt Pinsent: 1904 – 1970
Mother: Florence May Haywood: 1905 – 1989

Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)

John Holt Pinsent: 1904 – 1970
Florence Pinsent: 1906 – 1906
Katherine Sarah Pinsent: 1907 – 1907
James Leonard Pinsent: 1908 – 1978
Kathleen Pinsent: 1911 – 2003
Thomas William Pinsent: 1912 – 1986
Eveline Mary Pinsent: 1915 – xxxx
Beatrice Margaret Pinsent: 1919 – 2004

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Sophia Emily Pinsent

Vital Statistics

Birth: 1828
Marriage: 1852
Spouse: Stephen Heney
Death: N/A

Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0811

Family Tree

Grandparents

Grandfather: Benjamin Pinsent: 1776 – 1819
Grandmother: Esther Best: 1773 – 1868

Parents

Father: Benjamin Pinsent: 1808 – xxxx
Mother: Myra Burgoyne: 1815 – 1869

Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)

Samuel Benjamin Pinsent: 1794 – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1795 – xxxx
Ann Pinsent: 1797 – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1799 – xxxx
Sarah Lucy Pinsent: 1800 – xxxx
Esther Pinsent: 1805 – xxxx
Benjamin Pinsent: 1805 – xxxx
Benjamin Pinsent: 1808 – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1812 – 1893
Emily Pinsent: 1815 – xxxx
Amelia Pinsent: 1818 – xxxx

Male Siblings (half-Brothers)

Samuel Benjamin Pinsent: 1833 – xxxx
James Pinsent: 1837 – 1912
Joseph Pinsent: 1840 – 1841
Edward Brand Pinsent: 1845 – 1846
George Henry Pinsent: 1847 – 1849
John Pinsent: 1850 – 1856

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