Vital Statistics
Thomas Pinsent: 1842 – 1889 GRO0831 (Brewer, Newton Abbot)
Emma Anthony: 1840 – 1914
Married: 1875: Marldon, Devon
Family Branch: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO0831
References
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Thomas Pinsent, the eldest son of John Ball Pinsent by his wife, Hannah Davie (née Swain) was born and presumably brought up and educated in Newton Abbot. However, the first we hear of him he was living in Birmingham with his younger brother, William Swain Pinsent. The 1861 Census tells us that they were both clerks working in a general merchant’s office and lodging on the Hagley Road. Their mother was there for a visit.
The family’s connection with Birmingham seem to have started with their grandfather, Thomas Pinsent, who was a devout Baptist and a friend of several members of the influential “dissenting” community there. Two of Thomas’s daughters, Elizabeth Savery Pinsent and Sarah Pinsent, married into the Birmingham non-conformist community and Thomas attended the funeral of the Rev. John Angell James, his then deceased daughter Sarah’s father-in-law, which was a major event in Birmingham in 1859 (Birmingham Gazette: Monday 10th October 1859). Thomas had come up from Newton Abbot, presumably by train, with one of his sons. It may well have been John Ball Pinsent who took the opportunity to arrange for his sons to be employed or apprenticed in Birmingham while he was there.
Thomas “junior” as he still was until 1872 (while his grandfather was still alive) came of age in 1863 and returned to Newton Abbot where he presumably joined brewery staff and reconnected with the local community. There had been a break in the annual running of the Newton Abbot races for several years and he joined a committee set up in 1863 restart them (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 26th June 1863). They went well that year and Thomas was back on the committee the following year; this time acting as subtenant for the ground, which potentially put him on the hook for £40 (Western Times: Friday 22nd July 1864). A few years later, he was appointed “Clerk of the Weights” (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 2nd August 1867).
Exactly what Thomas’s role was in the brewery in those days is not clear, as much of the business was conducted by an unspecified “Mr. Pinsent” and his father seems to have had a hands-on approach to the production of the beer. For a more detailed look at the foundation and early days at the brewery, I suggest going back to Thomas’s father (John Ball Pinsent). However, as we shall see shortly, there is a suggestion that Thomas, or “Tom” as he was known, was mainly concerned with outlying sales and distribution. In June 1864, the House of Commons discussed a proposal for new railway to run up the Teign Valley and, although one might have expected the brewery to support such a proposal, Thomas’s father was one of several local gentlemen who argued against the line. They claimed that it would injure their personal estates and that there would not be enough traffic to justify the expense (Western Daily Mercury: Thursday 2nd June 1864). There was a community meeting on the subject in August and, after considerable venting and complaint about the South Devon Company’s present service to the community, a committee was formed to look into the desirability of promoting the new line. Thomas was appointed to the committee (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 26th August 1864). The idea was eventually rejected. For one thing, it was hard to see how the various railway lines could safely cross one another given the proposed routes. Doubtless much relieved, the directors of the Moretonhampstead and South Devon Railway company gave a luncheon for the principal inhabitants of Newton, including Thomas Pinsent, in June of 1866 (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: Friday 29th June 1866).
Thomas was still living at home with his parents at that time; however, he was undoubtedly an eligible young man. He attended the County Ball at the Globe Hotel in Newton Abbot in February 1866. Thomas’s political leanings are not specifically spelled out; however, they may be inferred from the following notice that appeared in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette on 25th September 1868: Political Gossip: We are desired to state that the Mr. Pynsent, who was so insolent to Sir S. Northcote at Barnstaple and Bideford, is not Mr. Pinsent, a respectable hay and straw vendor, Market-place, Bideford, but his cousin Thomas, who has changed the “i” into “y” and is now called Thomas Pynsent, Esquire, Mr. White, who seconded Mr. Pynsent, is not Mr. E. M. White, of Bideford, the architect who built Bideford Church, but Mr. White, a respectable tailor, Mill street, Bideford. Tom was a businessman and most likely the vendor who submitted the notice. He was a Conservative (like Sir Stafford Northcote, who was elected to Parliament for North Devon that year and then appointed President of the Boards of Trade). Near the end of his life, in December 1886, we find Thomas attending a meeting to mark the opening of a new chapter of the Conservative Club in Ipplepen (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: 18th December 1886). The Thomas Pynsent that Tom was trying to distance himself from was a very distant cousin indeed, who then lived in Northam, near Bideford. He had decidedly more Liberal leanings. Thomas may well have known his namesake, or at least known of him as he was a nephew of the Joseph Pinsent who had married into the Devonport branch of the family not once but twice in the early 1800s. He crops up elsewhere in the database.
Thomas Pinsent married Emma Revell, a widow, in Marldon near Totnes in March 1875. She was the daughter of a local farmer, Richard Anthony (Western Times: Thursday 18th March 1875). The couple set up house at #1 Belmont in the Courtenay Park area in Newton Abbot and may well have purchased the property when it came up for sale—with them as sitting tenants—two years later (Western Times: Friday 27th July 1877). According to the 1881 Census, Thomas [40] was a “spirit merchant” born in Newton Abbot, and Emma [40], his wife who was born in Totnes, were still living there a few years later. The household included an unmarried “general servant”, Mary S. King [17] who came from Staverton. They were there in 1883; however, they had moved to #2 Alpha Cottage, Brunswick Place by 1886. Thomas and Emma had no children, so never needed a sprawling house the size “Minerva House”.
To what extent Thomas was a “spirit merchant” is unclear. The Pinsent family brewery owned and leased several “tied” houses in Newton Abbot and elsewhere in the Teign valley and one of Thomas’s jobs may have been to keep on top of the evolving laws and regulations. Someone had to humour the magistrates who regularly reviewed licenses and had the final say over who could, or could not, act as a landlord. Licensing usually went smoothly but there could be complications if there were breaks between resident landlords. Then, the family had to step up and take responsibility for the license.
In January 1877 the landlord of the “Saracen’s Head” in Fairfield Terrace fell sick and had to leave, so the magistrates temporarily transferred the license to Thomas (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette: 5th January 1877) until a suitable replacement could be found. They later transferred it to a Mr. Henry Creot, who became the new proprietor. “Mr. Pinsent” (who ever he was in any particular case) was involved in several similar transfers over the ensuing years. Sometimes, it may have been his father or one of his brothers stood in for the publican. However, we know that later in Thomas’s life, the magistrates gave him the license for the “Jolly Sailor Inn” in Newton Abbot after Eliza Fragile vacated the premises (Western Times: 5th November 1886). Similarly, two years later, they returned him the license for the “Clifford Arms”, in Shaldon (Totnes Weekly Times: 25th August 1888); however, a few months later they switched it to Edward Henly French (Western Times: 10th January 1889).
Not all the licensing went smoothly. In May 1875, Mr. Robert Hole, who leased a “tap”or side-bar at the “White Hart Hotel” in Moretonhampstead from its proprietor, a Mr. Pollard, was charged at the local petty sessions for illegally selling cider to two Inland Revenue Agents. As we saw with Thomas’s father (John Ball Pinsent above), the problem was that he was only licensed to sell beer, which came from the Pinsent family brewery. The question was: whose license was Mr. Hole operating under—that of Mr. Pollard, or of Mr. Pinsent? A witness at the trial claimed that he had seen a memorandum book containing an agreement between the defendant and Thomas Pinsent. He claimed that it showed that Mr. Hole had let the “tap” to Thomas Pinsent for a weekly amount, payable monthly. However, the agreement was neither signed nor sealed and he did not know who drew it up, or where it was. In later discussion there was some suggestion that it might have been burnt. He had only seen it once. When questioned, Mr. Thos. Pinsent said he was a brewer, residing at Newton. He knew the defendant Robert Hole but he had never entered into any agreement with him regarding rent and he had never paid him anything. However, Hole used to pay him 6s a week. He took the 6s because Mr. Pollard asked him to (presumably it offset part of his own payment to the brewery for running the White Hart). He did not give Mr. Hole a receipt for the 6s (East and South Devon Advertiser: 9th January 1875) and the justices concluded that Mr. Hole was guilty as charged.
Thomas and his brother John Ball Pinsent “junior” appear to have been members of the South Devon Hunt. They attended a meeting together in February 1877 (Western Times: Thursday 22nd February 1877). That is if, in fact, the J. Pinsent mentioned is John Ball “junior” as seems likely. However, there were other J. Pinsents in the district at the time. They belonged to other branches of the family. Thomas may also have been a member of the local Morning Star, 1396, Lodge of the Masonic Order. Certainly, a T. Pinsent attended the funeral of William Uglow, a well-respected member of the organization, and Bro. T. Pinsent was appointed and invested “organist” a few years later (East and South Devon Advertiser: 16th June 1877). How much musical talent that required I am not sure.
In July 1886, several local gentlemen, farmers and merchants, including T. Pinsent, met in Newton Abbot to discuss the desirability and, doubtless, the cost of hosting the Devon County Agricultural Association annual meeting in 1887. It was to be the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, and they were looking to put on a good show. They decided to proceed (presumably with the unqualified support of the brewery) and an invitation was duly drawn up and submitted and accepted (Totnes Weekly Times: Saturday 3rd July 1886). Later that year Thomas attended a dinner put on by the Chudleigh District Agricultural Society (Western Times: Friday 15th October 1886).
When 1887 came, it was not the year the family hoped for, as Thomas’s mother, Hannah Davie (née Swain) died towards the end of December. Probate was granted to her “son and sole executor”, John Ball Pinsent. Why him, I am not sure. Perhaps her oldest son, Tom, was already showing signs of failing. The Western Times (Wednesday 24th April 1889) tells us that “Mr. Tom Pinsent, the eldest of the three sons of the well-known firm of Pinsent and Sons, brewers, of Newton Abbot, died yesterday after a short illness: Deceased’s loss will be felt by a wide circle of acquaintances.” His funeral at Highweek was reported to have “caused quite a sadness among the parishioners generally, who showed their respect for him by partially closing their shops and drawing their blinds during the hour of sepulture. Mr. L. Bearne was the undertaker; Mr. Colwill, of the Commercial Hotel, supplied the open hearse and coaches, and the men employed by the firm acted as bearers. The Rector (Rev. S. G. Harris) officiated” (Western Times: Saturday 27th April 1889).
In the absence of children, Thomas Pinsent left his entire Personal estate, valued at £2,942, to his widow, Emma. The census records show that she stayed on in Newton Abbot and was living on the Highweek Road with a companion in 1891. A decade later, in 1901, she was visiting with friends in Torquay. However, she was back in Newton Abbot, living at #22 Mt. Pleasant Road, in 1911. She was living at #9 Park Crescent, Paignton shortly before she died in Totnes in November 1914. Her estate was valued at £3,476. She had been a widow for twenty-five years.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1782 – 1872
Grandmother: Mary Savery: 1780 – 1859
Parents:
Father: John Ball Pinsent: 1819 – 1901
Mother: Hannah Davie Swain: 1815-1887
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Thomas Pinsent: 1807 – 1826
Savery Pinsent: 1815 – 1886
John Ball Pinsent: 1819 – 1901 ✔️
Richard Steele Pinsent: 1820 – 1864
Brothers (Male Siblings)
Thomas Pinsent: 1842 – 1889 ✔️
William Swain Pinsent: 1843 – 1920
John Ball Pinsent: 1844 – 1890
Frederick Richard Steele Pinsent: 1855 – 1856
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