Vital Statistics
Ernest “Pinsent”: 1889 – 1966 GRO0272
Mabel Braimridge: 1889 – 1982
Married: 1910: Leicester, Leicestershire
Children by Mabel Braimridge:
Ethel May Pinsent: 1910 – 1996
Lilian Margaret Pinsent: 1912 – 2005
Horace Pinsent: 1913 – 1913
Marjorie Kathleen Pinsent: 1915 – 1915
Family Branch: Tiverton
PinsentID: GRO0272
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Ernest “Pinsent” was born to Harriet Hunt a couple of years before she married John Arthur Pinsent, and he grew up alongside their two legitimate surviving children, Ethel May Pinsent and Horace Pinsent. John Arthur, Ernest’s father (or step-father) was a shoe finisher for much of Ernest’s early life; however, the 1911 census shows that he later became a publican and ran the “King’s Head” beer house in Burley’s Lane, in Leicester.
Ernest married the daughter of a “bricklayer”, Mabel Braimridge, in 1910 and the following year’s census shows that they were living on Hull Street with a baby daughter, Ethel May Pinsent. Ernest was a “hotel barman” and Mabel was a “hosiery machinist”. They were to have another daughter, Lillian Margaret Pinsent while living on Hull Street and two more children, a son Horace Pinsent and a daughter Marjorie Kathleen Pinsent after moving to Archdeacon Lane in around 1913. Sadly both of the younger children died within a year of birth. A coroner’s inquest shows that their child Horace had been a sickly child from birth, and he had recently been attended by a doctor. He died of “convulsions from a stomach disorder.” (Leicester Daily Mercury: Wednesday 3rd December 1913).
In August 1916, Ernest Pinsent enrolled as a private in the Leicestershire Regiment (#27246); however, he was later transferred to the 19th London Regiment (#617290). Ernest was demobilized in November 1918 and returned to Leicester and was for a while, a “hosiery hand” – alongside his daughters. Ernest had served his country and he applied for – and presumably received the British War and Victory Medals.
Ernest and was said to be a “hosiery dealer” working on his own account when the census takers next called in 1921 and Mabel was a “hosiery machinist” working for “N. Corah & Sons, Hosiery Manufacturers,” at their “St. Margaret’s Works.” Ernest’s father and mother were living with them on Archdeacon Lane and they, presumably, helped to look after Ernest’s two children – their grandchildren, Ethel May and Lilian Margaret Pinsent, both of whom were still at school. John Arthur was said to be an out of work “licensed victualler” who worked on his own account at the time, and he was said to have previously lived on Burley Lane.
As a “general dealer,” Ernest seems to have been flexible about what he dealt with and where it came from! He pleaded “not guilty” of stealing five dozen pairs of ladies hose (valued at £5 5s 0d) from a warehouse in Church Gate, declaring that he had seen them on a pile of straw in a back lane behind the premises of “Toone and Wells” and he had put them in a bag to take round to the main office. He was apprehended by the caretaker and charged after a witness claimed to have seen the items thrown from a window and someone resembling him leaving the lane. Still, the evidence was circumstantial and the charge of theft was dropped – and that of “Receiving Stolen Goods” pursued instead. The Leicester Magistrates found him guilty (Leicester Evening Mail: 17th June 1925).
Two years later, Ernest Pinsent (38) of #13 Archdeacon Lane was charged with conspiring with two other men to obtain honey (and other items) by false pretenses. His solicitor applied for bail, claiming that Ernest and his father were “in a very good position in the city;” however, the Deputy Chief Constable objected and it was, at least at first, refused (Leicester Daily Mercury: Thursday 7th July 1927). The three defendants claimed to be representing a new grocery and they bought items from distributors with no intention of paying for them. The scam had been going on for several months and the police laid thirteen charges of obtaining items to the value of £135 under false pretenses against them (Leicester Daily Mercury: Tuesday 19th July 1927). Ernest was, eventually, granted bail. He may have testified against his so-called partners as he appears to have been discharged (Leicester Daily Mercury: Tuesday 26th July 1927).
In March 1929, Ernest was charged with either stealing a parcel containing 37 women’s “jumpers” (cardigans, sweaters) worth £9 5s from a “L.N.E.R.” (London North Eastern Railway) “dray” (cart!) – or at least with receiving them knowing them to be stolen. The “jumpers” had been stolen from the back of the dray as it was parked in the street and had turned up during a search of his front room (Leicester Evening May: Friday 1st March 1929). Ernest said that a man he only knew by the the name of George “brought them and offered them for 30s a dozen” and he had said “that if they were any good he would pay for them on Friday”. He did not know they were stolen, of course … how could he? Detective Superintendent Boon said that “for some time we have had numerous railway robberies, and this man has been under suspicion for some time. At his house was found other hosiery made by the same firm which cannot, however, be identified as stolen. Pinsent stands in the local markets at Melton, Hinckley, and Coalville and can dispose of the goods.” Ernest “had form” – he had been convicted of receiving stolen goods the previous June, and this time he was sentenced to six months imprisonment with hard labour for “receiving” (Leicester Evening Mail: Friday 1st March and Friday 8th March, 1929).
Ernest’s daughters Lillian and Ethel married in 1934 and 1936 respectively, and Ernest and Mabel moved to Cort Crescent sometime in the 1930s. Certainly, they were there when the War-time Register was compiled in 1939. He was said to be a “flat-frame” operator in a textile factory. There must have been plenty of scope for gaming the system during the war, and Ernest was back to his old tricks trying to sell stolen “jumpers” in 1943. In July, he was charged with stealing three jumpers valued at 16s belonging to his then employer “N. Comb and Sons.” At his trial, the head commissionaire at the factory said that he saw him leaving the premises with the items in a bag. Ernest’s response had been “What can I say? Can anything be done?” Apparently not, as he was brought up at the next Quarter Sessions (Leicester Evening Mail: Thursday 22nd July 1943).
Ernest died in Leicester in 1966, and his widow, Mabel, died there in 1982.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: John Pinsent: 1836 – 1899
Grandmother: Elizabeth Johnson: 1837 – 1909
PARENTS
Father: John Arthur Pinsent: 1869 – 1930 (?)
Mother: Harriet Hunt: 1868 – 1933
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Sarah Jane Pinsent: 1855 – 1855
Thomas Johnson Pinsent: 1856 – 1925
John Henry Pinsent: 1858 – 1861
George Pinsent: 1861 – 1932
Eliza Pinsent: 1863 – xxxx
Louisa Pinsent: 1865 – 1945
Ada Pinsent: 1867 – xxxx
Henry Pinsent: 1871 – 1939
William Horace Pinsent: 1874 – 1876
Horace Pinsent: 1879 – 1949
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Horace Pinsent: 1893 – 1913
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