Possible photo of Thomas Pinder
Thomas Pinder is my third great grandfather and he was born October 1806 in Worksop, Nottinghamshire to parents, Robert and Elizabeth. The obituary below, however, contradicts Thomas’s birth place.
In 1827, Thomas took up residence in Rotherham. His first known address is in Westgate. Westgate was an important and densely populated area of Rotherham in the 19th century and continued to be so until the middle of the last century, when newer housing estates were constructed on the outskirts of Rotherham. My mother was born in Westgate during the 1930s.
Thomas’s first wife, whose surname I do not currently know, is called Maria. Thomas and Maria issued four children who were called, Robert Thomas (1831 to 1905), Hannah (1832 to 1872), Mary Ann (1835 to 1836) and William Shackleton (1836 to 1836).
Westgate
Thomas’s son, Robert, married Mary Ann Allcock during 1852 in the Independent Masbrough Chapel, Rotherham and after her death in 1855, he married again, to Hannah Shackleton. Robert and Hannah, with their daughter, emigrated to Australia in the 1880s where a considerable number of their descendants now reside.
Thomas’s wife, Maria, died in 1836 and Thomas married again, to Mary Shackleton, in 1843. The relationship between Mary, Thomas’s fourth child with Maria and Robert’s first wife, Hannah Shackleton, is discussed in this entry.
Pinder burial plot next to the Walker Mausoleum
With Mary Shackleton, Thomas issued seven children, called, Ebenezer (1843 to 1843), Maria (1844 to 1847), Francis (1846 to 1935), Alfred Henry (1849 to 1887), Martha (1851 to 1871), James Heath (1853 to 1931) and Mary Ann (1855 to 1913).
It is interesting to note that Maria (Thomas’s first wife), Mary Ann Allcock and all of Thomas’s infants are all buried in the same plot in the burial ground of the Independent Masbrough Chapel, Rotherham. This Chapel was founded by the Walker family (the former owners of Clifton Hall), when they split from the Rotherham Methodist meeting in 1762. Sadly, this Chapel was recently demolished following a fire. The Pinder burial plot lies next to the Walker Mausoleum, although no headstone survives.
Hope Street
Thomas’s daughter, Martha, died May 1871 in 109 Hope Street, Rotherham from hemiplegia and exhaustion after confinement. Basically, Martha had suffered a stroke and died from complications whilst giving birth to her daughter, Patty. Patty only survived a couple of months without her mother, succumbing to marasmus (undernourishment).
109 is an address number that frequently features in my family database. It is also coincidental that Martha’s great great niece, Beryl Marjory Mollekin, also died from complications arising from giving birth, 75 years later.
Effingham Works
THE ROTHERHAM AND MASBRO’ ADVERTISER. MAY 27, 1871
At Masbro’, on the 22nd of May, Martha, daughter of Mr. Thomas Pinder, plumber, aged 20 years.
As mentioned in the obituary below, Thomas was a religious man and a Deacon at Doncaster Road Congregational Church, Rotherham (now Rotherham Civic Theatre). Many of Thomas’s descendants, even today, are still followers of nonconformist religions in the Rotherham area. Thomas recorded significant family names and dates in his bible, which has been invaluable when attempting to untangle the myriad of ‘nonconformist’ events.
Doncaster Road Congregational Church
Thomas quite literally dropped down dead whilst walking along Joseph Street, Rotherham in March 1878, the cause being attributed to heart disease and chronic bronchitis. My father nearly suffered a similar fate in a street but fortunately modern medical treatment intervened.
Thomas was buried in Moorgate Cemetery, Rotherham with his second wife, Mary (who died in 1889 in Eastwood Lane, Rotherham) and daughter, Martha. There is no surviving headstone, although I have photographed the plot in which they rest.
ROTHERHAM AND MASBRO’ ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, MARCH 30, 1878.
Pinder burial plot in Moorgate Cemetery
FUNERAL OF THE LATE MR. THOMAS PINDER. – Mr. Thomas Pinder, of Thornhill, who for 27 years had been in the employment of Messrs. Yates, Haywood, and Co., died in a very sudden manner on Saturday afternoon last. The deceased was a native of Ripon, and was born in 1806. In 1820, he removed to the village of Gringley, near Bawtry; to serve his apprenticeship. In 1827, he came to Rotherham, to work for Mr. Binks, plumber, &c., and succeeded to that business in 1837. He remained thus connected until 1848, when he was engaged to take to the plumbing, glazing, and gas department, at the Effingham works, a position he held up to his death. He was a member and deacon of the Congregational Church from the time it was first established. He was also an active member of the Loyal Parkgate Lodge of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Manchester Unity, for 46 years. Having gone through the various offices of the lodge and district, he was a Past Provincial Grand Master, and had the honour of representing the Rotherham District at the Worcester Annual Moveable Committee. For some time Mr. Pinder took a conspicuous part and a warm interest in the working of the Widow and Orphans’ Fund, as President. The deceased was interred on Tuesday, at the Rotherham Cemetery, and his funeral was attended by the Mayor (J. C. Morgan, Esq.), Mr. Jas. Foster, Mr. S. Liversidge, Mr. Cormack, and Mr. J. Newsum, deacons of the Congregational Church. There were also in attendance Mr. Wm. Eskholme, Grand Master; P.P.G.M. George Joseph Jackson, corresponding secretary; P.P.G.M. George Stother, examining officer; P.G. John Morris, P.G. Samuel Haywood, Bro. W. Stones (sick visitor of the Parkgate lodge), Bro. William Foster, and other members. Mr. W. Haywood was also present on behalf of the firm. Brother the Rev. P. C. Barker, M.A., LL.B., the officiating minister, at the conclusion of the usual service for the dead, read, in an impressive manner, the Oddfellows’ address.
Eastwood Lane
PINDER – March 23, Mr. Thomas Pinder, Hope Street, Masbro’, aged 71 years
THE ROTHERHAM ADVERTISER, SATURDAY, JANUARY 4, 1890
PINDER. – December 28th, at Eastwood lane, Mary, widow of Mr Thomas Pinder, aged 76.
WEEK 42 