Vital Statistics
Brian Roy West Pinsent: 1925 – 1997 GRO0106 (Research Chemist, Bedford, Bedfordshire)
Olwyn Mary Winnifred Tuck: 1924 – 2010
Married: 1949: Dowglais, Glamorganshire
Children by Olwyn Mary Winnifred Tuck:
Daughter (GRO0051)
Son (GRO0105)
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0106
Brian Roy West was the second son of Arthur Pinsent by his wife Hilda Mabel (née West). He was born in Hatfield, in Hertfordshire while his father was the “Head Master” of “Handside School” in Welwyn Garden City. Arthur was appointed a “Lecturer” in the “Department of Education at the University College of Wales in Aberyswtyth” in 1926, and Brian, and his elder brother Philip James Noel Pinsent were brought up living on Penglais Road in Aberystwyth in the 1930s. Brian was still at school in Aberystwyth when Britain’s War-time Register was compiled in 1939.
Both of Arthur’s sons were (perhaps predictably) good at English. However, English may have been a second language for many young Welsh boys of their age. The elementary school children in and around Aberystwyth were taken to the Cinema in 1931 and they were asked to write essays on the films they saw. The best received book prizes. It was a good way of teaching them the language (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 25th 1931). Needless to say, “Jimmie Pinsent” (a.k.a Philip James Noel Pinsent) of Alexander Road (boys) School, did well. He moved to Ardwyn School and took his love of English with him. The school held an Eisteddfod at St. David’s Parish Hall in Aberystwyth each St. David’s day in the 1920s and 1930s, probably into the 1940s if not beyond. The school houses competed for a challenge cup and certificates and/or prizes were awarded for music, poetry and recitation and Arthur had been called upon to adjudicate the more literary English language items in the 1920s; however, he seems to have stopped (presumably for conflict of interest reasons!) when his sons joined the school (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 8th March 1928 etc.).
James came first in the Eisteddfod “junior” competition with an English essay in 1933 (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 2nd March 1933) and did well in subsequent years. He also did well in this “Central Welsh Board” Examination. He graduated in 1939 and went up to Liverpool University to take a course of veterinary studies. Predictably, they were delayed by several years while he served in the armed forces. His life is discussed elsewhere.
Brian Roy West (or “Roy” as he was commonly known) also excelled in English. He had, like his brother before him, attended Alexander Road (boys) School and previously had some success in written English. In 1935, he had won a prize from the local branch of the “League of Nations Union” for an essay on “Peace” (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 25th April 1935). Roy later move to Ardwyn and competed in its Eisteddfod “junior” and “senior” English essay competitions. He came first in the Ardwyn Eisteddfod “senior” essay competition in 1940, and he shared top spot with another boy, Eddie Ellis, the following year (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 6th March 1941). In his final year at school he gave the second best “short speech” and received his “Central Welsh Board, Higher School Certificate” (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 5th March 1942). Brian Roy West was given an “Honorary Exhibition” from the “Cardiganshire Education Committee” for his pains (Welsh Gazette: Thursday 24th September 1942) and he went up to Cambridge where he become a “research chemist”.
Brian Roy was, a cricketer – like his father and his brother – and we find him playing for the Aberystwyth Y.M.C.A. in August 1948. He scored 89 (a “pretty good knock” as the saying goes) in a match against Penryhn (Porthcrawl Guardian: Friday 13th August 1948). He also played in a friendly between Fulbourn Hospital v. St. Giles 2nd XI in June 1950. On that occasion he was less productive, scoring only 7 runs. He seems to have been the wicket-keeper as we find him “stumping” (don’t ask) one of the opposition (Cambridge Independent Press: Friday 9th June 1950).
Brian Roy had graduated and become a “research chemist” at Cambridge by the time he met and, in 1949, married Olywn Mary Winifred Tuck. She was a “secondary-school teacher” who came from Dowlais in Merthyr Tydif, in Wales. They lived in a flat on Bateman Road in Cambridge (Cambridgeshire, England, Electoral Registers: 1722 – 1966) while Brian wrote up his Ph.D. thesis in chemistry; which he completed in 1950. He went on to co-author several professional papers in the 1950s. Most were along the lines of: “The Kinetics of Combination of Carbon Dioxide with Hydroxide Ions,” which was published in “Transactions of the Faraday Society” in January 1956. Brian’s interest in chemistry may have been, in part, sparked by his father’s involvement in the production of anti-gas masks during the First World War. His father wrote a couple of pamphlets on the subject at some point and Brian thoughtfully donated to the “Imperial War Museum”.
Brian joined the British/Dutch consumer goods company “Unilever” as a “research chemist” in 1954 and lived in Bromham, where that was an active member of the local cricket club, the “Bromham Nomads” (Bedfordshire Times and Independent: Friday 10th December 1954). His two children were born while they were there. He had a daughter in 1954 and a son two years later.
Brian continued to play cricket while his wife was active in the Women’s Institute (Bedford Times and Independent Friday 24th February and 10th March 1961) in the 1960s and she was a Voluntary County Organizer for the W.I. in the 1980s (Biggleswade Chronicle: 27th March 1987). The family lived on Stagsden Road and then on Neville Crescent, where it remained until at least 1986. Brian died in Bedford in 1997. Olywn stayed on there and died there in 2010. Their children are, as far as I know, both alive.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Adrian Pinsent: 1864 – 1945
Grandmother: Hannah West: 1865 – 1934
Parents
Father: Arthur Pinsent: 1888 – 1978
Mother: Hilda Mabel West: 1895 – 1957
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Arthur Pinsent: 1888 – 1978
Doris Mabel Pinsent: 1897 – 1898
Harold West Pinsent: 1900 – 1962
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Philip James Noel Pinsent: 1921 – 2007
Brian Roy West Pinsent: 1925 – 1997
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