Vital Statistics
Alfred Charles Pinsent: 1877 – 1948 GRO0020 (Construction Trades Worker, London)
Mabel Winifred Davis: 1882 – 1949
Married: 1902: Walthamstow, Essex
Children by Mabel Winifred Davis:
Stanley Arthur Pinsent: 1903 – 1985 (Building Contractor, Surbiton, London; Married Evelyn Hilda Lawrence, 1926)
Charles Alfred Pinsent: 1905 – 1961 (Soldier and Policeman; Married Mary Beirne, 1935)
Winifred Mabel Pinsent: 1906 – xxxx (Married George Arthur Sharp, 1925)
Harold William Pinsent: 1910 – 1967 (Building Contractor, Surbiton; married (1) Frances Mary English, 1936, and (2) Mary Swain Robinson, 1945)
Gladys Pinsent: 1912 – 1959 (Married Frank Frederick George Lock, 1933)
Rosetta Mary Pinsent: 1914 – 2004 (Married John Edward Romaines, 1940)
Eva Violet Pinsent: 1922 – 1990 (Married David Stuart Jones, 1946)
Family Branch: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO0020
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Alfred Charles Pinsent was the youngest child and only son of Alfred Pinsent by his wife, Matilda (née Churched). He was born in Hackney, in London, in 1877 and followed his father into the building trades. He became a “carpenter”.
Alfred married Mabel Winifred Davis in 1902, while he was still a young man living on Clarkson Road in Walthamstow, in Essex. The couple moved to #53 Somerset Road, in Walthamstow, before the census was taken, in 1911. The house had five rooms, and Alfred Charles’s father Alfred Pinsent, had the use of one of them. His second wife Charlotte (née James) had died the previous year and Alfred had decided to join his son in Walthamstow.
Alfred and Mabel had four children,Stanley Arthur Pinsent, Charles Alfred Pinsent,Winifred Mabel Pinsent and Harold William Pinsent in 1903, 1905, 1906 and 1910 respectively. This was before the 1911 census. They added three more girls, Gladys Pinsent, Rosetta Mary Pinsent and Eva Violet Pinsent in the years that followed (1912, 1914 and 1922). All seven children married and stayed on in the Greater London area. The boys’ lives are discussed elsewhere. As for the girls, Winifred Mabel went to school in Thames Ditton and made her mark. She can second in a “housewifery” competition in 1919 (Surrey Comet: 22nd March 1919) and also came second in a “spoon and potato race” later that year (Surrey Comet: 23rd July 1919). Winnifred married an “engineer’s fitter” at Kingston Registry Office in 1925; Gladys married as “salesman” in Epsom in 1933; Rosetta also married an “engineer’s fitter”, in Putney, in 1940 and Eva married in 1946. I am not sure what her husband did for a living.
In 1915, Lord Derby introduced a recruitment scheme whereby fit eligible men were encouraged to make a commitment to serve in the armed forces if they were needed – which, of course, they were. The following year, the government felt obliged to introduce conscription to fill its all too rapidly depleting ranks. Alfred Charles was one of many who signed up to the Derby Scheme. However, he may have felt that he was a little old as he lied about his age — saying that he was born in 1879, not 1877.
Alfred Charles gave his profession as “carpenter” and his home address as #14 Alexandra Road, in Thames Ditton, in Surrey. He joined the “Royal West Surrey Regiment” on 16th August 1916 and became a private (Regt. No. 8783). He was described as being 5ft 7in tall at the time. He weighed 128 lbs, and had a 38-inch chest capable of 3-inches of expansion. Alfred Charles survived the war and was discharged on 9th December 1919.
Alfred returned to his family who were living on Alexander Terrace, in Thames Ditton, in Surrey. They were still there when the next census was taken, in 1921, he was employed as a “carpenter” by “Hartfree Builders” of New Malden and his eldest son, Stanley, was working with him as a “carpenter’s improver.” His second son, Charles, was, meanwhile, working as a “commercial clerk” with “George A. Touche & Co. Chartered Accountants” at Basildon House, in Central London. Alfred’s wife, Mabel, was saddled with house-hold duties and Harold, Gladys and Rosetta were still at school. As for Winnifred Mabel, who was only fourteen years old; she was a “domestic servant” employed by Harry Thorne, the “manager” at “A. D. Dawney & Sons Ltd.”, a local construction engineering company.
I hope Alfred was at home when his daughter Rosetta received the prize of a doll dressed up as a fairy at Christmas 1921. It was for being the girl who had made the greatest progress at “Long Ditton Council School” that year (Surrey Advertiser: Saturday 24th December 1921). According to the local directories, the Pinsent family stayed on in Thames Ditton until at least 1930 (Kelly’s Directory: 1930).
Alfred moved to “Stanley Cottages”, in Surbiton when he retired as a “builder’s carpenter.” He probably wanted to be closer to his sons who were planning to form a construction company there. Alfred Charles was living in Surbiton when the war-time Register was compiled in 1939, and his death was recorded in Richmond in 1948. His widow, Mabel Winifred Pinsent stayed on in Surbiton after his death. She was living at #32 Moor Lane, Hook, Surbiton when she died the following year, 1949. Administration of her estate was granted to her eldest son, Stanley Arthur Pinsent, who was a “builder”. Her effects were valued at £205.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Charles Pinsent: 1812 -1863
Grandmother: Mary Fullick: 1812 – 1852
PARENTS
Father: Alfred Pinsent: 1848 – 1919
Mother: Matilda Churched: 1844 – 1888
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Mary Ann Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – 1868
Thomas Pinsent: 1836 – 1838
Charles Pinsent: 1837 – 1862
George Pinsent: 1840 – 1875
Amelia Pinsent: 1842 – 1901
Alice Pinsent: 1844 – xxxx
Eliza Pinsent: 1846 – 1847
Henry James Pinsent: 1850 – 1853
Frederick Pinsent: 1852 – 1929
MALE SIBLINGS (stepBROTHERS)
William C. “Pinsent”: 1866 – xxxx
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