Death 'at sea', 1878

[daggers]

Ancestry's Liverpool marriages includes one for John Pinnock, married at St John the Divine on 30 June 1870. His occupation defeats me, it starts with 'P' but what is the rest? Can anyone help please?

I have not found him anywhere else, except in the probate calendar - died at sea 21 May 1878.

Daggers

[lynne99]

Your guess is as good as mine. The start looks similar to his surname . Pinler??
Best I can do , but others will be better.

[Bertieone]

I think it could be Piner, Old Occupations has Piner-Labourer.

[lynne99]

Hi, Bert. My guess was not bad

[Bertieone]

Hi, Bert. My guess was not bad

My guess could be even worse, the "I" is not dotted.

[daggers]

With a bit of lateral work, I found two daughters' baptisms at St John the Divine, Fairfield. For one the father's occupation was P<><><, but for another it was clearly written 'Purser'.

Thanks for all those thoughts!
D

[lynne99]

Oh daggers you are so clever. Why didn't I think of doing that

[MaryA]

'Purser'.

Makes sense - so I suspect further investigation as this wouldn't be an ordinary seaman.

[daggers]

I am looking for more about John Pinnock whose occupation I found - see earlier thread.
With the occupation 'purser' I found him serving in s.s. Mandingo of the African Steamship Co [later Elder Dempster] in crew lists for 1867 and 1868, but no others. This gave his place of birth, Reading, and approximate age, 22.
I then found his date of death in the Probate records: '21 May 1878, at sea'.
FMP have only two deaths at sea for Pinnock, first name obscure but not John, in 1874, and another with different first names and not 1878.

Suggestions, please for other possible sources?

I have details of Pinnock's marriage and two children. His brother-in-law was Sir Alfred Jones, of Elder Dempster and many other claims to fame.

Daggers

[MaryA]

Checked the newspapers for any shipping disasters, but the only one I have come across is the Voorwaarts which collided with the Khedive but it was on 23rd and no lives lost.

It seems it might have been a natural death insofar as "natural" might mean not involving a whole ship.

[retiringtype]

The probate calendar describes him as a merchant.

The Liverpool Echo of 10 March 1914 (reporting on his widow's estate - page 8 "Mrs Pinnock's estate") describes him as the founder of the Sierra Leone Oil Company.

[Bertieone]

A snippet from the Liverpool Mercury, Nov 20, 1900,

Perhaps Mrs Pinnock had an interest in the disease because her husband may have died from it.

[MaryA]

Nice find Bert.

[MaryA]

Mention of her here https://archive.org/stream/cu3192402987 ... 5_djvu.txt seems worth reading more than I am doing.

[retiringtype]

There seem to be some strong coincidences with the life of a man called James Pinnock:

"The last of the early traders to become established permanently on the Niger at this time was James Pinnock who, having joined Macgregor Laird's African Steam Ship Company as a purser in 1859, had then spent several years as the company's agent in Sierra Leone and on the Gold Coast."

(Trade Winds On the Niger: The Saga of the Royal Niger Company 1830-1971, Geoffrey Leonard Baker, I. B. Tauris, 1996 ) per Google books

[daggers]

I had come across references to James Pinnock but have not yet looked for his link to John. There is a later biography of Sir Alfred Lewis Jones which I have ordered from the library, and think there may be more to be found there.

D

[daggers]

Sir Alfred L. Jones was a founder of the School of Tropical Medicine - brother of Mrs John Pinnock. Mrs Harrison Williams was her daughter.

Getting complicated running two threads on this family! My fault for diverging. Can they be merged?

D

[retiringtype]

"Another asset taken over was a trading business in Sierra Leone, which was established many years ago by the late Mr. John Pinnock, brother-in-law of Sir Alfred Jones. I have always been strongly of opinion that it was not the business of steamship owners to compete with the merchants who support them with their shipments, and therefore we took the earliest opportunity of transferring the trading business to a separate company called The Sierra Leone Old Company Ltd........."

Chairman's report, Elder Dempster AGM, 1912

[MaryA]

Getting complicated running two threads on this family! Can they be merged?

With pleasure.

[Bertieone]

I had come across references to James Pinnock but have not yet looked for his link to John. There is a later biography of Sir Alfred Lewis Jones which I have ordered from the library, and think there may be more to be found there.

D

It appears that John & James were step brothers.

James was born, 24May, 1839, Lambourn, Berkshire, Baptised, 19 July, 1844. Parents, William Pinnock & Mary?

The only census information so far,
1901,
Victoria Rd Seaforth, RG13 P3444 F72 Page38
James Pinnock, Retired African Merchant

1851,?
HO107 P1501 F245 Page6
James Pennock (Pinnock) Lambourn.
Scholar (Institutional)

Liverpool Mercury, December 8, 1891.

James was involved in a Libel case, reported he had married a lady 20 years younger than himself, had 4 children, lived in Dyke Rd, Brighton, Father failed in business.

1851,
HO107 P1692 F414 Page18
William Pinnock, 1812, Romsey, Flour Dealer
Elizabeth Pinnock, 1810, Reading
Ann Steward, 1836, Reading
John Pinnock, 1846, Reading
Children, Etc.

1861, RG9 P91 F56 Page18.

The 1851 census has Ann Stewart recorded as Daughter in Law, it should be step daughter.

William Pinnock married Elizabeth Steward, 1842, Reading, 6 282.

1854, Bankrupt, William Pinnock, Flour & Corn Factor, St James Terrace, Harrow Rd. (Various Papers)