GRO0245 – Page 60 – The Pinsent Family

Western Morning News: Tuesday 21st June 1932

Ministry Appointment: Miss R. Darwin to be Senior on Control Board: On the recommendation of the Minister of Health, the King has approved the appointment of Miss Ruth Darwin as a Senior Commissioner of the Board of Control, in succession to Mrs. Ellen F. Pinsent. Mrs. Pinsent, who will retire on July 31^st has had a long and distinguished career of public service. Miss Darwin, who is a daughter of the late Sir Horace Darwin, was an Hon. Commissioner from 1920 to 1930, and has been a commissioner since January 1^st, 1931. She is a member of the committee recently appointed to consider certain issues arising in connection with the sterilization of the mentally unfit.

[see similar Western Daily Press: Tuesday 21^st June 1932 and Gloucester Citizen: Tuesday 21^st June 1932]

Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Daily Mirror: Tuesday 21st June 1932

Darwin’s Grandchild: The King, on the recommendation of the Minister of Health, has approved the appointment of Miss Ruth Darwin, granddaughter of the famous Charles Darwin, as a Senior Commissioner of the Board of Control in succession to Mrs. Ellen F. Pinsent. Since 1931 Miss Darwin, who is a daughter of the late Sir Horace Darwin, has been a Commissioner of the Board, which has the care of the feeble-minded. At present she receives £525 per year, but as Senior Commissioner her salary will be £1,200 to £1,500.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer: Tuesday 21st June 1932

Board of Control: Miss Ruth Darwin to be a Senior Commissioner: The King on the recommendation of the Minister Health, has approved the appointment of Miss Ruth Darwin as a Senior Commissioner of the Board of Control, in succession to Mrs. Ellen F. Pinsent. Miss Darwin, who is a daughter of the late Sir Horace Darwin, was an honorary Commissioner from 1920 to 1930, and has been a Commissioner since January 1, 1931. She is a member of the Committee recently appointed to consider certain issues arising in connection with the sterilization of the mentally unfit.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Midland Counties Tribune: Friday 12th September 1931

Coleshill Hall: Former Home of Digbys for Mental Defectives: Coleshill Hall, which has been purchased by the Birmingham City Council for the reception and treatment of mental defectives, is to be opened next Tuesday. … (continues) … the opening ceremony is to be performed by Mr. L. G. Brock, chairman of the Board of Control, with the Lord Mayor (Alderman M. L. Lancaster), in the chair: Addresses will be delivered by Mr. Brock and Mrs. E. F. Pinsent (Commissioner of the Board of Control).

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Reynolds’s Newspaper: Sunday 8th March 1931

Distinguished Woman Worker: Lady Simon spoke at the invitation of the British Women’s Patriotic League, which organizes several lectures in the course of a year, usually holding them in that supremely comfortable Mecca of intellectual women, the Forum Club. The league’s next lecture, Miss Mackinnon, the secretary, tells me, will be delivered on May 4 by Mrs. Pinsent who has chosen for her subject “Mental Defects.” Mrs. Pinsent is in a unique position to throw a penetrating light on this absorbing topic, for she is the only woman Commissioner of Lunacy in the country.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

The Vote: Friday 13th February 1931

The Board of Control: Women Commissioners Appointed: The Mental Treatment Act, 1930, provides that the Board of Control shall consist of the Chairman (who FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1931, shall be a paid Commissioner) and not more than four other Commissioners, all of whom shall be paid Commissioners. These members of the Board of Control are called “Senior Commissioners,” and it is stated that of the Senior Commissioners other than the Chairman, one at least shall be a legal Commissioner, two shall be medical Commissioners, and one at least shall be a woman. These Senior Commissioners are appointed by His Majesty on the recommendation, with regard to the legal Commissioners, of the Lord Chancellor, and in the case of the other Commissioners, of the Minister of Health. In addition to the Senior Commissioners, there are to be other paid Commissioners, who are appointed, subject to the approval of the Minister of Health, by’ the Board of Control. The Act declares that women are to be included as well as men among these Commissioners, and that any Commissioners so appointed shall be officers of the Board. Last December we reported that the Senior Commissioners, consisting of the Chairman, Mr. Lawrence George Brock, C. B., and four other Senior Commissioners — one legal man, two medical men, and one lay woman, Mrs. Ellen Pinsent, C.B.E., had been appointed. At the same time, we said it was most regrettable that no medical woman had been appointed a member of the Board of Control. Last week The Times reported that this Board of Control, with the approval of the Minister of Health, had appointed the following to be Commissioners: Mr. A. E. Evans, M. B., D.P.H., Mr. S. E. Gill, M.D., D. P. H., Mr. E. 0. Lewis, D.Sc., L. R. C. P., Mr. J. W. W. Adamson, M.D, Surgeon Rear-Admiral J. F. Hall, C.M.G., K.H.S., Surgeon Rear-Admiral E. T. Meagher — at present Medical Inspectors; and Mr. C. F. Penton, Barrister-at-Law, Miss I. M. C. Duncan, B. A., LL. B., Barrister-at-Law, Surgeon-Captain H. C. Devas, Miss I. G. H. Wilson, M.D., D.P.M., and Miss R. Darwin (part-time). We are glad to note that three women are among these Commissioners appointed by the Board of Control, including one medical woman and one-woman barrister. We are, however, by no means satisfied with the composition of the Board of Control itself, as it seems only common sense that of its two medical members one should be a woman and the other a man. The proportion of women to men among the medical Commissioners appointed by the Board is also ludicrously inadequate.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Staffordshire Sentinel: Friday 19th September 1930

City Congratulated: “One of the First Authorities to Recognize the Problem”: Mrs. Pinsent. who is Chairman of the Board of Control, made a most able speech on colony life and training for the mental detectives. She congratulated the city on its enlightened public spirit. It was pleasant, she said. to report that the City of Stoke-on-Trent was one of the first local authorities to recognise the problems of the mentally deficient, and to provide some accommodation of their own. No doubt the experience they had gained at the Cloughs Institution, at Newcastle. would be valuable in the working of this larger scheme. They had great opportunities, said Mrs. Pinsent, of securing the happiness and usefulness of the future occupants of the Hall. The lot of the mental defectives left to fend for themselves in the world was a very hard one indeed. They were often made to feel their infirmity, even by their own parents. and many of their anti-social reactions and bad habits need never have been if they had received early care and attention. For that reason, she wished to ask them to admit all their colonists as young as possible: Dangers of Monotony: Most of their colonists would necessarily have to regard that as their permanent home. Possibly 5 per cent. might improve sufficiently, after long training, to take their place in the community. There were two things that could make institution life miserable—monotony and idleness. People talked a good deal about taking away the liberty of the individual, but a good many years’ experience had taught her that, given plenty of variety in work and play, the feebleminded did not feel the intense craving for personal liberty. The measure of liberty possible in the colony was quite enough to make them happy. They must never be idle or bored, and the well-run colony would have workshops and occupations which could supply the needs of all the colonists. Time must never hang heavy; in other words, when they were not at work they must be at play, speaking of the need for adequate classification, Mrs. Pinsent said that so many people made the mistake of thinking that mental defectives were all of one class and that they could be herded together in common dormitories. They must separate the higher-grade defective from those of the lower grade, for the former were often acutely sensitive of being classed with Imbeciles and idiots.

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Staffordshire Sentinel: Wednesday 17th September 1930

Big Step in Tackling of Vital Problem: Stallington Hall Opening: Stallington Hall, the new home for the mental defectives of the City of Stoke-on-Trent is to be opened by Lady Aspinall tomorrow afternoon … continues … Civic Reception for Sir A. and Lady Aspinall: Sir Algernon and Lady Aspinall are to visit Stoke-on-Trent for the opening ceremony. Sir Algernon Aspinall, C.M.G., C.B.E., is an expert on the West Indies and Tropical agriculture (?). He had a distinguished and varied career … continues … Other guests at the luncheon will be Mrs. Pinsent, Chairman of the Board of Control, Monsignor Newsome, supervisor of the … Court (the Worcestershire home for higher grade mental defectives,), Mr. Andrew MacLaren, M.P. for Burslem, Colonel and Mrs. Ward of Birmingham and Dr. R. A. Keane. For the opening ceremony at the Hall, Lady Aspinall will be presented with a special key by Colonel Ward of Birmingham, the architect. There will be speeches by Alderman Bird, Mrs. Pinsent, Monsignor Newsom. Ald. Leason, Sir Algernon Aspinall, Mr. Andrew MacLaren M.P. and Ald. J. Kearns.

[see related: Staffordshire Sentinel: Thursday 18^th September 1930]

Referenced

GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949

Hinckley Echo: Friday 12th September 1930

Coleshill Hall: Former Home of Digbys for Mental Defectives … (discussion) … The opening ceremony is to be performed by Mr. L. G. Brock, chairman of the Board of Control, with the Lord Mayor (Alderman M. L. Lancaster), in the chair Addresses will be delivered by Mr. Brock and Mrs. E. F. Pinsent (Commissioner of the Board of Control).