Vital Statistics
Gilbert Pinsent: 1724 – 1794 GRO1308 (Woolcomber of Newton Abbot)
1. Rebecca Collins: 1719 – 1788
Married: 1746: Wolborough, Devon
Children by Rebecca Collins:
Gilbert Pinsent: 1748 – 1748
Mary Pinsent:* 1749 – 1833 (Married Andrew Narramore, Wolborough, 1772)
Anne Pinsent: 1751 – xxxx
Rebecca Pinsent: 1752 – xxxx
Urith Pinsent: 1754 – 1757
Julian Pinsent: 1755 – 1757
Robert Pinsent: 1758 – xxxx
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1760 – xxxx (Married William Blackhall, Wolborough, 1780)
* Mary appears to have had two illegitimate daughters Hannah (1769) and Sarah (1771) before her marriage to Mr. Narramore.
2. Sarah Lee: 1740 – 1811
Married: 1791: xxxx, xxxx
Family Branch: Hennock
PinsentID: GRO1308
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Gilbert Pinsent was the third eldest son of Thomas Pinsent of “Pitt Farm” in Hennock by his wife, Mary (nee Gale). He was baptized in Hennock on 6th January 1724 and buried “aged 70 years” in Wolborough Parish (Newton Abbot) in 1794. His birth record is difficult to read on microfilm (Film #0917142), and some sources suggest that it was a “Robert” Pinsent who was baptized that year. However, that must be a transcription error – as the baptismal date is consistent with Gilbert’s age of death. My grandfather (Francis Wingfield Homfray Pinsent) seems to have read the baptism as “Gilbert” when he saw the original record and I concur.
Gilbert Pinsent married Rebecca Collins in Wolborough in 1746 and had a large family that included at least six girls. Sadly, two of them, Urith and Julian, died of smallpox on the same day, in 1757. Anne and Rebecca are unaccounted for but the eldest, Mary, and youngest, Elizabeth, are known to have married. Mary may have had two illegitimate children (born in 1769 and 1771 respectively) before her marriage to Andrew Narramore in 1772. They may have been Mr. Narramore’s children. Elizabeth married William Blackhall in 1780.
Gilbert’s first son, another Gilbert, died an infant and his second, Robert, was not mentioned in his uncle Thomas “the younger” of “Pitt’s” will and he may have died by 1791. All of Thomas’s other then (known to be) living nephews were mentioned by name.
Gilbert, as a third son, had few expectations with regard to inheritance and he started out as a “woolcomber.” This may have seemed like a good idea at the time as the “East India Company” bought and exported cloth from Devon in the 1700s and it was a thriving, if modest, cottage industry. Sadly, it turned out to be a poor choice as the industrial revolution was starting to take hold in the North of England – and the process of woolcombing was becoming increasingly mechanized. The cloth industry in the Southwest of England was into its terminal decline and it was all but over by the 1830s. He took to gardening in the 1760’s.
Gilbert’s family clearly became somewhat irritated by his endless financial problems. The London Gazette for 3rd November, 1761 (Issue 10154) shows that “whereas Gilbert Pinsent, late of Newton Abbott, in the County of Devon, Gardener, is now a Prisoner in the Sheriff’s Ward or Prison at the Parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, in and for the County of Devon, and charged in Execution therein at my Suit; I do hereby give Notice, that I intend, at the next General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be held in and for the said County of Devon, or any Adjournment thereof, which shall happen next after Twenty Days from the Publication hereof, to Compel the said Gilbert Pinsent to deliver into Court and subscribe upon Oath a Schedule of all his Estate and effects, for the Benefit of his Creditors, pursuant to the Directions of an Act of Parliament passed in the First Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, King George the Third, entitled, An Act for Relief of Insolvent Debtors. Witness my Hand the 4th Day of November 1761: Signed Thomas Pinsent, jun”. Presumably, this was his brother Thomas, who was later to be the second owner of “Pitt Farm”.
Gilbert continued to have financial problems all his life. His wife, Rebecca, died in the “Workhouse” in Wolborough, in 1788. Gilbert married Sarah Lea in 1791, but died a few years later.
Had he lived, Gilbert was to have received an annuity when his brother Thomas died; however, he died first. The Sarah Pinsent “aged 71 years” who died in Wolborough in 1811 was probably his widow. In the absence of known surviving sons, Gilbert seem unlikely to have left Pinsent descendants.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1657 – 1696
Grandmother: Ann Waters: xxxx – xxxx
Parents
Father: Thomas Pinsent: 1690/1691 – 1777
Mother: Mary Gale: 1690 – 1774
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Susannah Pinsent: 1678 – xxxx
(?) Simon Pinsent: xxxx – 1744
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1682 – xxxx
Thomas Pinsent: 1684 – 1685
Ann Pinsent: 1686 – xxxx
Thomas Pinsent: 1691 – 1777 ✔️
Robert Pinsent: 1693 – xxxx
Unknown Pinsent: 1696 – xxxx
Unknown Pinsent: 1696 – xxxx
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Thomas Pinsent: 1717 – 1802
Robert Pinsent: 1721 – 1783
Gilbert Pinsent: 1723/1724 – 1794 ✔️
John Pinsent: 1728 – 1772
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