Vital Statistics
Thomas James Pinsent: 1858 – 1932 GRO1261 (Commercial Artist, Sign-painter, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia)
1. Clara Jessie Candy: 1861 – 1899
Married: 1886: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Children by Clara Jessie Candy:
Albert Gladstone Pinsent: 1893 – 1894
Elsie Beatrice Pinsent: 1895 – 1968 (Married Harold V. Moritz, Melbourne, Australia, 1923)
2. Ellen Oldfield: xxxx – 1945
Married: 1902: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Children by Ellen Oldfield:
Raymond George Pinsent: 1913 – 1983 (Married Ruby Margaret Anderson, Melbourne, Victoria, 1939)
Family Branch: Australia
PinsentID: GRO1261
Thomas James Pinsent was the eldest son (and namesake) of his father by his wife, Elizabeth, née James. He was born in Ballarat in the State of Victoria in 1858, while it was still very much a “goldrush” frontier town. His father was a “baker” and he grew up there, in nearby Dalesford and in the Fitzroy suburb of Melbourne, after his parents opened a bakery there in (around) 1868. Thomas and Elizabeth and their five children (four boys and a girl) initially lived on Brunswick Street in but they later moved to a house on Alexandra Parade, which is to south of Edinburgh Gardens in Fitzroy.
Thomas was artistic and he was fortunate in that his talent was recognized while he was still quite young. By the late 1870s, Melbourne’s City Fathers had decided that they should encourage the growth of culture in the city and build up its cultural infrastructure. To this end, they staged a “Juvenile Exhibition” in December 1879 to identify and highlight local talent. A reporter discussing the exhibition was highly complementary of Thomas’s work “ … … These (preceding) remarks are called forth by a visit we made during the week to Mr. Pinsent’s bakery in the Alexandra-parade, who, after our business arrangements had been settled, invited us to inspect some work his son, just out of his time, had completed for the Exhibition. The two exhibits must have taken months, if not a year or two, to complete, because Mr. Pinsent, jun., being but an apprentice, could only work at these specimens during his spare time, of an evening, or on holidays in a little workshop his father has put up for him. The ambition and the energy displayed will be understood when it is stated that the larger specimen of handicraft is on a plate of glass 7ft. by 5ft. and the smaller one on a plate 5ft by 3 ft.
Mr. Pinsent was apprenticed to Mr. H. Ward, and the proficiency attained reflects much credit both on the instruction given by the master and on the assiduous attention paid to the lessons by the apprentice. The exhibits are two framed handsome specimens of writing and decorating on glass. The smaller of the two is an entablature (with writing) supported by two pillars on each side relieved by figures on the summit and at the base of each, while under the centre of the entablature is a well-executed copy of he Victorian Coat of Arms. This was finished in 1877, and although very excellent in its way, and quite fit to put to shame many professors of the art (for it is beyond the mere mechanical work of trade), yet the more ambitious work of two years later quite puts it in the shade, and shows that vast improvement, nay almost perfection, can be attained by practice and perseverance in so short a time as two years; and that only in that very time that is so often wasted by our colonial youth lounging round street-corners, or by making them selves a nuisance to every one about them”. The reporter goes on to say “Mr. Pinsent has already taken two medals, certificates and pecuniary prizes at the Exhibition at Sandhurst and Ballarat. He has also sent some smaller designs for competition to Geelong, and we heartily wish him and all other aspiring Victorian youth the success they are so ardently striving to gain” (Mercury and Weekly Courier Saturday 20th December 1879). T. J. Pinsent went on to win the silver medal for “writing and gilding” at the Geelong Exhibition that June (Mercury and Weekly Courier: Saturday 12th June 1880).
Ironically, Thomas James, the noted sign-writer, had his name forged on a cheque presented for payment at the Brunswick Street branch of the “London Chartered Bank of Australia” in September 1887. The miscreant, Mr. John Kiel said he had found the cheque, which was for £1 17s 6d, in the pocket of a (presumably stolen) coat he redeemed from a pawnbroker with a ticket he bought from someone he did not know – or would not admit to knowing. He said he did not realize that the signature was a forgery when he presented it. The bank clerk (who presumably knew Thomas’s writing – which was unlikely to be a scribble) had doubts and his manager checked with Mr. Pinsent who confirmed that it was, indeed, a forgery. Ignorance being no defense, Mr. Kiel was committed for trial at the General Quarter Sessions (Fitzroy City Press: Saturday 24th September 1887).
The Pinsents were a Wesleyan Methodist family and at Harvest Thanksgiving in 1890 Thomas James helped decorate the congregational church on Brunswick Street with decorations that were placed behind the altar. The artwork read: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” and “Thou art the King of Glory” (Fitzroy City Press: Friday 28th March 1890). That autumn, the Fitzroy Wesleyans installed a new organ that had been brought in from London and Thomas decorated that too, free of cost (Mercury and Weekly Courier: Thursday 16th October 1890). Thomas James also helped paint calico signs for a Fancy Dress Procession held in Fitzroy in July 1893 (Fitzroy City Press: Friday 14th July, 1893). Doubtless, it was all good advertising.
Thomas James was a “commercial artist” and occasional press reports of City Council Meetings show that he submitted periodic bills for payment. Most were for relatively small sums, such as the 13s 6d he was paid for writing and for painting a gate in December 1895 (Fitzroy City Press: Tuesday 24th December 1895) and the 7s 6d paid for “sundry painter’s work” (Fitzroy City Press: Thursday 14th May 1896). These public contracts continued into the early 1900s. For instance, the City fathers paid him £6 11s for “name plates” in November 1901 (Fitzroy City Press: Friday 8th November 1901) and £2 3s 6d for “sundry writing” in the spring of 1902 (Fitzroy City Press: Friday 25th April 1902). Presumably most of his clients were either companies or private individuals.
Thomas Pinsent “junior” married Clara Jessie Candy, the fourth daughter of Mr. W. Candy, a sculptor, in October 1886. They had two children. In May 1893, the Melbourne Argus (Saturday 13th May 1893) announced the birth of Albert Gladstone Pinsent at “Sharnhen” (#41 Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy). Sadly, Albert died the following year. Thomas’s daughter, Elsie Beatrice Pinsent arrived a year later (Fitzroy City Press: Friday 23rd August 1895). However, this piece of good news was overshadowed by bad when his wife, Clara Jessie Pinsent (née Candy) died “suddenly” at their home in February 1899 (Melbourne Argus: Monday 6th February 1899). Thomas had a note of thanks for condolences received from friends and neighbours published in the Argus a couple of days later. He was left with a young daughter to look after. Her grandparents still lived near by; presumably they helped out.
Thomas James Pinsent married Ellen (“Nellie”) Oldfield in Fitzroy in 1902 and Raymond George Pinsent was born in 1913 (Melbourne Argus: Saturday 14th June 1913). Thomas would have been fifty-five years old at the time and his daughter Elsie was eighteen. She married Harold V. Moritz in 1923.
Thomas James “senior” designated his two elder sons, Thomas James Pinsent “junior” (a “sign writer and decorator” living at the corner of Brunswick Street and York Street” and Joseph Henry Pinsent (a “collector” of #118 Alexandra Parade) as his executors when he signed his will in 1909 – a year after his wife died and they administered his estate in 1915 (Victoria State Archives). Property development seems to have agreed with him and Thomas James Pinsent “senior” left a considerable estate, most of which was to be split between his sons.
Thomas James “junior” seems to have had a successful career as an artist and in later life he was able to focus his time and money on good works. He made donations to institutions such as “Melbourne Hospital” (Melbourne Argus: Monday 7th July 1913) and responded to appeals such as the “Belgian Relief Fund” (Melbourne Age: Monday 15th May 1915). This was during the “First World War” which was to a large extent fought over Belgian soil. He also made annual donations to the Wesleyan congregation.
Thomas James stayed on in Brunswick Street after the death of his first wife and his remarriage, and his daughter Elsie Beatrice Pinsent was living with him and with her stepmother when she married in 1923. Elsie shows up in the Electoral Rolls as a “milliner” in the 1919. She married Harold V. Moritz at Brunswick Street Methodist Church in October 1923 (Melbourne Argus: Saturday 1st December 1923).
Thomas James and Ellen (née Oldfield) moved to Watt Street in Box Hill in Melbourne, in 1924 (Electoral Rolls). How long they were there for, I am not sure as they had moved to Mont Albert Road in Canterbury – yet another suburb of Melbourne, by 1931 (Electoral Rolls). That was where Thomas died in 1932. The Melbourne Argus (9th February 1932) shows that Thomas James Pinsent of Mont Albert Road, Canterbury “husband of Nellie and loving father of Elsie (Mrs. H. V. Moritz) and Raymond” died in February 1932. His widow had a Memoriam notice of remembrance inserted in the local papers the following year. Ellen (“Nellie”) died on 31st March 1945. She was buried with her husband in Box Hill Cemetery, Whitehorse City in Melbourne, Victoria. Thomas and Ellen’s son, Raymond George Pinsent, was living with his mother when his father died. His life is described elsewhere.
Family Branch
Grandparents
Grandfather: William Pinsent: 1811 – 1879
Grandmother: Sarah Eales: xxxx – xxxx
Parents
Father: Thomas James Pinsent: 1833 – 1915
Mother: Elizabeth James: xxxx – 1908
FATHER’S SIBLINGS (AUNTS, UNCLES)
Thomas James Pinsent: 1833 – 1915
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1836 – xxxx
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Thomas James Pinsent: 1858 – 1932
William Henry Pinsent: 1860 – 1860
Joseph Henry Pinsent: 1863 – 1945
Charles Samuel Pinsent: 1864 – 1930
William John Pinsent: 1866 – 1905
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