Vital Statistics
Arthur Edwin Pinsent: 1872 – 1938 GRO0076 (Leather and Cloth Merchant)
Eliza Memory: 1873 – 1955
Married: 1901: Leicester, Leicestershire
Children by Eliza Memory:
Hattie Vera Pinsent: 1903 – xxxx (Married (1) John Arthur Bailey: Leicester, Leicestershire, 1923; (2) xxxx Jarvis, xxxx)
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0076
Arthur Edwin Pinsent was the third and youngest son of James Pinsent by his wife Emma (née Jackson). He was born in Leicester in 1872, and was considerably (fifteen years) younger than his eldest sister, Hannah Martha Pinsent. He grew up with five sisters and two brothers – all of whom married. Arthur’s father had been born in Tiverton, in Devon, and he had come north when his father, who was “shoe-maker”, relocated to be nearer the heart of Britain’s leather industry. James and his family were living on Syston Road in St. Margaret’s Parish, Leicester, in 1881, when the census was taken. Arthur Edwin was a “scholar” at the time.
Arthur followed his father and grandfather into the “boot and shoe” business when he left school. We find that he was a “shoe packer” at the time of the 1891 census but a “commission agent” (of some sort) working on his own account, ten years later. Arthur Edward (sic) Pinsent may have worked for “Ward Bros. and Co.” as he was called as a witness at “Loughborough Police Court” to give evidence in a case that was heard in 1897. Evidently, Frederick Cramp, a “pattern cutter” from Argyle Street had charged “Ward Bros.” with being in a breach of contract for refused to pay him a week’s wages (£1 10s) in lieu of notice. Frederick made his point: the magistrates gave for the complainant (Leicester Chronicle: Saturday 27th March 1897). Arthur’s partnership with Mr. W. Ward and others as “boot and shoe manufacturers” seems to have ended that year (Morning Advertiser 1st January 1898).
Arthur married Eliza (“Lizzie”) Memory in 1901. Her father was also in the shoe manufacturing business. He was a “riveter.” They had one child, a daughter Hattie Vera Pinsent, in 1903. She was to marry Leslie John Arthur Bailey shortly after her twentieth birthday. Leslie was an “accountant” and son of a “schoolmaster.” Arthur, had graduated to being a “leather merchant” by then.
Arthur and Eliza seem to have gone into business for themselves. They held a part share in a warehouse on Moore’s Road in 1900 and they had addresses on both Oxford and Aylestone Streets in 1905 (Electoral Rolls). According to the 1911 census, they they ran a “drapery and boot dealership” out of their home on Aylestone Street and also acted as “fent” dealers – (i.e. they also sold remnants of cloth); (Kelly’s Directory: 1912). Nevertheless, it was not all work. Mr. A. E. Pinsent was a member of the “South End Tradesman’s Cricket Club” by 1910 (Leicester Daily Mercury: Wednesday 16th February 1910) and was its vice-president the following year (Leicester Evening Mail: Thursday 26th January 1911). I think it was probably a somewhat older Arthur Edwin who took part in a very successful match at Ayleston in 1925 during which “Pincent secured the remaining (six wickets) for four runs apiece” (Leicester Evening Mail: Saturday 16th May 1925).
Arthur seem to have planned to expand beyond the confines of Leicester as we find that A. E. Pinsent was looking for a: “girl, smart, wanted for boot stores: capable taking charge small Sheffield branch; write, wages, refs. Etc. A. E. Pinsent, 62 Aylestone St. Leicester” in 1912 (Sheffield Evening Telegraph: Wednesday 28th August 1912). Arthur advertised 5 tons of colourful (black and tan, glace, coloured Persian etc.) leather “Offal” for sale the following year (Leicester Daily Mercury: Tuesday 4th November 1913) and later directories also show that he was still a “leather factor” in 1925, and an “offal” dealer in 1928. The term “offal” refers to leather remnants and not the internal organs of farmyard animals!
He was a busy man; however he seems to have time to manage an allotment – until October 1916 at least, when he put it up for sale (Leicester Daily Mercury: Tuesday 10th October 1916). Arthur and Lizzie also put one of the weighing machines at their “Offal Dealership” at Granby Place up for sale in 1919 (Leicester Daily Mercury: Monday 10th March 1919).
The couple appear to have run the firm of “Pinsent & Co., Boot and Shoe Manufacturers” out of Paradise Lane in Leicester in the early 1920s. The 1921 census shows that Arthur Edwin worked out of Granby Street, but lived on Howard Road in Leicester with a servant and a boarder. His wife “Lizzie” and daughter Hattie (17) were, meanwhile, living on Loder Road, in Brighton. Hattie was a “typist” who, when working, worked for “S. & W. Evans. Limited, Flour Millers“, of Soar Lane in Leicester. Interestingly, they had a young visitor, William Ewart Land (19), a “hosiery and silk agent” employed by the “Midland Blouse Co.” in Leicester staying with them.
Arthur Edwin and Eliza moved their “offal” business to Gladstone Street in Leicester in around 1929 (British Telephone Directories) and ran it from there until at least 1932. They themselves were living on Upper Kent Street by 1930. Arthur Edwin died in Leicester in 1938. Lizzie died in Sevenoaks, in 1955. She may have moved to Kent to be close to her daughter as probate of her estate was granted to Hattie Vera Jarvis. Presumably her daughter had remarried at some point.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1795 – 1860
Grandmother: Hannah Johnson: 1800 – 1871
PARENTS
Father: James Pinsent: 1831 – 1902
Mother: Emma Jackson: 1831 – 1903
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Fanny Pinsent: 1820 – 1880
William Pinsent: 1822 – xxxx
Thomas Pinsent: 1824 – 1831
Caroline Pinsent: 1825 – 1864
James Pinsent: 1831 – 1902 ✔️
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – 1833
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1833 – xxxx
John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899
Henry Pinsent: 1838 – 1846
George Pinsent: 1839 – 1857
Charles Pinsent: 1842 – 1882
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
James Pinsent: 1862 – 1936
Adrian Pinsent: 1864 – 1945
Arthur Edwin Pinsent: 1872 – 1938 ✔️
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