The Pinchbeck family (Pynchbecke) of Lincolnshire

The Pinchbeck family originate from Lincolnshire, there is a village called Pinchbeck, although I have found no evidence to suggest this is where our Pinchbeck’s come from it is more than likely!

This branch of our family is another group of adventurers. On my son’s paternal side, his great grand mother, was born May Pinchbeck in 1902 to Frederick Ormerod and Elizabeth Pinchbeck. We do not know much about the Pinchbecks till the 10th generation after Thomas, our first ancestor of interest is William Thomas Pincheck  b.1831 in Toynton St Peter, Lincolnshire, England. In 1849 William Pinchbeck immigrated to the new world at the age of 18 years, from England.  He first followed the gold rush to San Francisco and operated a roadhouse there. William would later move to Victoria and joined the new city police force there. In 1860 Constable William Pinchbeck and Philip Nind, Gold Commissioner and Justice of the Peace, were sent to the Cariboo to keep law and order as the impending Gold Rush gathered momentum. They left Fort Hope, and travelled the Boston Bar Trail to Lytton, then on to the Cariboo. They arrived nearly a month later at Davidson’s farm, just past the end of Williams Lake on August 25th.

We move on  few more generations to Joseph Pinchbeck b. 15 Feb 1845 in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, he married Mary Alice Sellers in 1865 in  Horncastle, Lincolnshire and together they had 12 children although sadly only 7 survived past infancy, Joseph worked as a brick layer in  Horncastle, Lincolnshire up until 1880ish he and all his family then moved Tottenham, where according to the 1881 census they all lived at 5 Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, Middx, England a bricklayer with;

1. Joseph Arthur Pinchbeck, b. 25 May 1867, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England
2. Frederick Ormerod Pinchbeck, b. 29 Jul 1869, Horncastle, Lincolshire, England
3. Charles Henry Pinchbeck, b. 07 Aug 1872, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England
4. George Albert Pinchbeck, b. 31 Dec 1875, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England,
5. Frank Wilson Pinchbeck, b. 26 Nov 1876, Grimsby, Lincoln, England
6. Margaret Mary A Pinchbeck, b. 1878, Caistor, Lincoln, England
7. Alfred Edward Pinchbeck, b. 26 Jun 1880, Tottenham, Middlesex, England

Joseph Pinchbeck immigrated to New York with his 6 younger children, he became a US citizen and continued to work in the building trade. He died in 1936 and an obituary appeared in the New York Times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joseph’s son, Frederick Ormerod Pinchbeck did not go to New York with the rest of his family, he went to university and studied to become a school teacher. He married Elizaberth Charlotte Smith (also school teacher ) on  29 Jul 1893 at the  Baptist Chapel, High Road, Tottenham, she was the daughter of Angeline Smith and Susan Carpenter.

 

Fred became the first Headmaster of a the The Downhills Central School in Tottenham.     http://www.downhillscentral.co.uk/

On 30 June, 1919, Mr. F. O. Pinchbeck was appointed Headmaster, to take up office on 1 September. Mr. Pinchbeck was trained as a teacher at St. John’s College, Battersea, and was a Bachelor of Arts of London University. He brought with him the experience of senior assistant at Mansford Street Central School, London, and he had been head of a London County Council Commercial and Technical Evening Institute.  The School has had only two Headmasters. The place of the first Headmaster of a School is a very special one, and the responsibility resting on his shoulders is very great. The School was fortunate in its first Headmaster, Mr. F. O. Pinchbeck, who retired in July, 1932. He was regarded with great esteem and affection by his staff and the children. Every reference to him, both contemporary and reminiscent, makes this clear. “I believe the secret of his success was his uncanny knack of engaging the right staff and trusting them to get on with their jobs without too much interference. He was always approachable by teachers, parents and children. To the staff he was always very friendly and free but never lost any prestige through this. He was ready to jump with both feet, however, at any slackness. He was a very religious man. Nevertheless he was far from being narrowminded. At the Christmas parties he danced with the wildest. He was a man of great understanding, extremely generous, too. As soon as the first staff were appointed he called them to a meeting and, after explaining his plans, said: ‘I have chosen you because you are the type of teacher I need and can trust and I am going to leave you very much alone. As long as I know you are doing your jobs I shall not put my oar in.’ I believe these words had a profound influence on the future of the School.” These are the words of one who was a colleague of Mr. Pinchbeck for thirteen years. Under the direction of Mr. Pinchbeck the internal organisation of the School took shape. In the first four years the School was of two-form entry. In 1923, 112 children were admitted, making three forms in the first year, and in 1924 there was three-form entry again. In the next two years the entry was two-form again. This pattern was followed until at least 1930, and it appears that the purpose was to limit the number of classes to ten. There was no fifth form; some stayed on to prepare for Civil Service examinations and these were accommodated in a fourth year form.

Before we continue with stories about Fred’s family, we shall look at what became of his siblings in America.

Joseph Arthur Pinchbeck settled in outskirts of  New York, living in Westchester as per 1940 census, he worked as an architect. He married twice, firstly to Freida Heoll Henniqhausem whose parents immigrated from Germany, they had one child :

Irving Pinchbeck b. 1892.

His second wife was Mary A Morse m. 1921

Charles Henry Pinchbeck became a baptist minister and moved around the US, living in Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Virginia. He got married in 1894 to Mary Higgins b. 1875  d.1935  and had two daughters:

Margaret Mary Pinchbeck b. 1897

Marion Emma Pinchbeck b. 1906

George Albert Pinchbeck settled in New York area, and worked as a real estate agent, in 1904 he married Lillie Sanger (parents were German) and they had 2 children:

Valjean Arthur Pinchbeck b. 1905

Audrey Alice Pinchbeck b. 1908

George enlisted in the army during the first world war.

Frank Wilson Pinchbeck  also settled in New York area, Albany where he worked as an auto salesman. Frank married Mary Franckane and they had three children:

Grace Pinchbeck b. 1899

Frank Pinchbeck Jr b. 1905

Alice L Pinchbeck b. 1903. d 12 Mar 1995

Frank enlisted in the army during the first world war

Margaret Mary A Pinchbeck never married and died in 1918

Alfred Edward Pinchbeck, another to settle in New York, he worked for a funeral directors as an embalmer, at some point he married Hattie ? Died in 1937 in New York.

Alfred served in the National Guard Service in World War I,

Now we can focus back on Fred’s family. Although Fred stayed in England he did travel to America. In July 1892 he sailed from Liverpool to New York, this was the year before he got married, may be he was having second thoughts about staying in England or just wanted to visit his family!

Fred and Elizabeth lived at 2 Durham Road, South  Tottenham and had three children:

Harry Pinchbeck b. 1894

Elsie Pinchbeck b. 1896. but she sadly died in 1899

May Punchard b. 1902. – my father’s mother, my son’s great grand mother