Vital Statistics
John Ernest Pinson: 1889 – 1960: GRO1914 (Iron Dresser, Sydney, New South Wales)
Marion Brown: xxxx – 1965
Married: 1911: Burwood, New South Wales, Australia
Children by Marion Brown:
Ernest Henry Pinson: 1912 – 1990 (Married Vera Mabel Hancock, Auburn, New South Wales, Australia, 1939)
Family Branch: Bristol
PinsentID: GRO1914
John Ernest was the second son of John Pinson by his wife Ellen (née Robinson). He was the son of a “plumber” who bought out his partner and established his own business in Balmain in 1888 – the year that John was born (Balmain Observer and Western Suburbs Advertiser, Saturday 23rd June 1888). His father also made galvanized iron tanks and he quoted prices for tanks up to 1,000 (imperial) gallons in an advertisement placed in the same newspaper the following month (Saturday 14th July 1888). They were probably for water; however, they could have been for gas John Pinson “senior” was on a list of accredited “gasfitters” published by the “Australian Gas Light Company” in August 1888 (Sydney Morning Herald: Saturday 18th August 1888). Gas lighting was coming into fashion around then.
John Ernest grew up in Balmain with two brothers and six sisters who reached maturity. All but two, Ethel Esther (who drowned in 1907) and William John (who served in the “First World War”, was wounded and may have suffered from “shell shock”) married.
John “senior” was a respectable businessman who valued his reputation, so he inserted the following notice in the local newspaper in 1903: “The John Pinson, proceeded against in the Balmain Police Court, on Wednesday, the 30th September, for damaging property is not in any way connected with my son, John: John Pinson, 48 Foucart Street, Rozelle” (Balmain Observer and Western suburbs Advertiser: Saturday 10th October 1903). Who the other “John Pinson” was, I am not sure. It is; however, worth noting that there were other unrelated Pinson families around at the time. John’s mother, Ellen Pinson owned the family home on “Foucart Street” and she bequeathed it to her husband “for as long as he lived” when she died in 1906. Thereafter, it was to be sold and the proceeds distributed equally among their children. This must have occurred in around 1920.
John Ernest Pinson was an “iron dresser” when he married Marion Brown, in Burwood, Sydney, in 1911. He worked in a foundry, where he cleaned the extra “flash” metal off molds and metal castings. John and Marion had at least one son, Ernest Henry Pinson while living on “Underwood Road” in Homebush, in Sydney. He was born in 1912. There may have been other children that I do not know about.
John Ernest signed on as a Private (#5386) in the “Australian Imperial Force” in Homebush, New South Wales, in March 1916. He had served for three years in a territorial unit, the “Scottish Rifles,” so he was not completely new to military life. John’s attestation papers (available in the “Australian National Archive” and online) shows that he was a member of the Presbyterian Church. He was 5 ft. 3 in. tall, weighed 140 lbs. and had a chest measurement of 34 in. He had a medium complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. The mole he had over his ensiform cartilage was deemed to be a potentially useful distinguishing feature. John was certified fit, swore the requisite oaths of allegiance and joined the “14th Reinforcement” for the “18th Battalion” before embarking for England in August 1916. There, he underwent a period of training before being trans-shipped to France in December 1916. Private Pinson was formally transferred to the “18th Battalion” in January 1917.
John Ernest seems to have had a constant struggle with “trench foot” (nerve and vascular damage to the feet caused by prolonged immersion in cold water) and he was in and out of hospital throughout 1917. The Battalion went on leave in England in January 1918 but returned to France a month later. John received a gunshot wound to his left shoulder in May and was shipped back to England to recover and convalesce. He was mentioned in the “Casualty List” published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday 20th June 1918. When he recovered, he was sent back his unit; however the war was almost over by then. The Armistice was signed in November 1918.
John attended a course designed to assist soldiers transition back to civilian life in April 1919, while he was still on the Continent. He was then returned to England to await trans-shipment back to Australia. Private Pinson returned on the “S.S. Mitliades” which left Plymouth in on 19th June 1919 and arrived back in Sydney in August. He was formally discharged from the Army the following month. In 1920, John received the certificate for the course he had attended at the “Universite du Travail” in Charleroi in Belgium. How valuable he found the course, given that he had returned to his original trade as an “iron dresser”, I do not know. His service earned him the “1914/15 Star Medal”, the “British War Medal” and the “Victory Medal” – and very sore feet.
After John’s death in 1960, John’s widow’s lawyer wrote to the “Central Army Records Office” seeking confirmation that John had, in fact, been in the army when he signed his last will and testament on 18th August 1916. Apparently there was nothing more recent and the probate court needed confirmation of its legitimacy.
The Electoral Rolls show that John Ernest and Marion settled in “Livingstone Road” in Lidcombe in Sydney sometime after the war. The Electoral Rolls show that he was still an “iron dresser” and she was still assigned to “home duties” as late as 1930. Their son, Ernest Henry Pinson came of age the following year and he later shows up in the rolls as an “ice-vendor”.
Ernest Henry Pinson married Vera Mabel Hancock, the daughter of a “night-watchman” in 1939 and the two of them lived with his parent on “Livingstone Road”, until John’s death in 1960. Despite the previously mentioned concerns, his will was probated (New South Wales Archives: On-line Search: Deceased Estates Index: 1880 – 1923: NRS-13660-40-16417-Series 4_520137: John Ernest Pinson: Date of Death 10th October 1960: Granted on 2nd March 1961).
John Ernest’s widow, Marion stayed on at “#17 Livingstone Road”. She was there in 1963 and she died there in 1965 (New South Wales Archives: On-line Search: Deceased Estates Index: 1880 – 1923: NRS-13660-47-70-Series 4_600491: Marian Pinson: Date of death 12th May 1965: Granted on 21st October 1965). Her son, Ernest Henry and his wife, Vera Mabel, were living next door, at “#16 Livingstone Road”. According to the Electoral Rolls, they were still there in 1980. Ernest and Vera had at least two children, who are probably alive today. Ernest died in August 1990 (Australia and New Zealand, Rootsweb Death Index: 1813 – 2003).
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Joseph Pinson: 1819 –1881
Grandmother:Elizabeth Snell: 1824 – 1880
Parents
Father: John Pinson: 1855 – 1919
Mother: Ellen Robinson: 1854 – 1906
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
William Pinson: 1845 – 1845
William James Pinson: 1846 – 1899
Richard Thomas Pinson: 1850 – 1913
Louisa Pinson: 1851 – 1904
Sarah Pinson: 1853 – xxxx
John Pinson: 1855 – 1919
Frederick Arthur Pinson: 1857 – 1914
Andrew C. Pinson: 1859 – 1862
Ann A. Pinson: 1861 – 1862
Hannah Amelia Pinson: 1863 – xxxx
Henry Charles A. Pinson: 1865 – 1868
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Leslie Walter Pinson: 1881 – 1954
John Ernest Pinson: 1889 – 1960
William John Pinson: 1891 – 1957
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