William Pinkney, senior, was born in 1869 at High Coniscliffe, Durham. His parents were Thomas Pinkney of High Coniscliffe and Mary Auton of Leyburn, Yorkshire. Thomas Pinkney was a builder.
William married Margaret Outhwaite in 1897. William was a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment, which was stationed at Ramskett, India at the time of the wedding. According to newspaper cuttings about their marriage the little village of Coatham Mundeville was en fete on Tuesday, the occasion being the marriage of Miss Margaret Outhwaite, the eldest daughter of Mr G. Outhwaite. The ceremony took pace at Haughton-le-Skerne and was conducted by the Rev. W. Parkinson, curate. The bride, who was neatly and tastefully attired, was accompanied by her sisters, Misses Annie and Sarah Outhwaite, and she was given away by her father. The bridegroom was attended by Corporal J. Stott, of the same battalion. After the ceremony the guests, numbering over one hundred, were entertained at the house of the bride's father. Flags were hoisted in honour of the occasion. Durng the afternoon the newly-married couple left amid the hearty congratulations of their friends for Sheffield to spend the honeymoon.
William's son William was born in Madras, India in 1901 and his second son, Cecil George Pinkney, was born in Rangoon, Burma, in 1902. They also had a daughter, Olive Mary, born August 9, 1903 at Quetta, Bengal, India, and baptized September 2, 1903 at Quetta. Sadly Olive Mary died September 11, 1908 at Quetta. She is remembered on William's headstone in St Andrew's Churchyard, Aycliffe.
William and Margaret Pinkey.
Ian Marshall, a descendant of William and Margaret, has kindly provided photographs and more information
Olive Mary Pinkey
William Pinkney's headstone
By the 1911 William was an army pensioner, working as a gardener in Brafferton.
His wife,Margaret Outhwaite, baptized May 19, 1872 at St. John's. Darlington, was the daughter of George and Mary Jane Outhwaite, who lived at the Post Office, Coatham Mundeville in the 1891 census. George Outhwaite was born in Mansfield, Yorkshire, his wife Mary at Haughton le Skerne. George worked as a joiner and cartwright as well as being the postmaster.
Orchard House Farm, Brafferton, where William and Margaret lived.
William Pinkney senior in his WW1 uniform
William Pinkney junior in his WW1 uniform
After WW1 William worked as a joiner with his brother Thomas.
Annie Outhwaite, sister of William's wife Margaret, married James William Scott of Holme Mill, Aycliffe. James William Scott was master of Tristram Masonic Lodge in 1920 and was presumably a factor in William Pinkney formally moving his membership to Tristram from Power Pamler in Burma in 1921.
George Outhwaite
Margaret Pinkney
William Pinkney died March 21, 1937 at Orchard House, Brafferton. His funeral took place Wednesday, March 24 at 3.30 p.m. In his obituary in The Northern Echo the next day it says that William was a churchwarden. The choir attended. The Rev.C. J. Lockyer took the service, helped by the former Vicar of Aycliffe (Cannon A. H. Patterson). A Masonic Service was conducted by the Rev. E. M. Young. There was a large gathering of Freemasons, the ususal Masonic rites being performed, Lodges represented included Surtees Lodge, Tristram, Rowlandson, Rstoration, Hugh de Pudsey. Soldiers from Catterick were underbearers, and a bugler sounded the Last Post and Reveille.
Probate was granted to George Outhwaite, joiner, 31 July, 1937.
Louisa Wilson, in her thesis "Annals of Aycliffe, A Parish of the Palatine" of 1927, (with some later additions) writes on pages 246 & 247 about one person who "embodied representative qualities of the older and more modern ideals of citizenship." This is William Pinkney senior, of Orchard House, Brafferton.
He was a warden of St. Andrew's Church, Great Aycliffe, and secretary of the Parochial Church Council. He was also a Freemason and Past Master of several Lodges, and at the time of his death of the Provincial Grand Lodge, and a member of the Tristram Lodge.
William enlisted in the Green Howards in 1888 and sailed to India January 1, 1890 with the 2nd Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment. Several years later he took part in the Tirah Campaign, undergoing great hardships. William was then attached to the Indian Ordnance with the rank of Sergeant Major.
After 13 years William was invalided out of the army.
August 1914 William re-enlisted and was attached to the 7th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment as a Sergeant Major. In 1915 William was in France, mainly in the vicinity of Hill 60, where the Germans first used poison gas. William's health was affected by this gas, as well as recurring bouts of malaria.
William was in hospital at Norwich and was eventually released from active service.
William's medals included the Long Service and Good Conduct medals, the North-West Frontier Medal with six bars for Tirah and the Punjab Frontier Campaigns, and the 1914 - 1915 Star. He also possessed two certificates for exemplary conduct.
Military and Masonic honours were accorded William's funeral "whose memory should long be held up for imitation by future generations."
William Pinkney junior enlisted with the 53rd Leicesters in June 1918 as a private. He was then transferred to the 52nd Leicester, E Battalion (training reserve) as a private February 11, 1919.
During WW1 William worked as an apprentice in Robert Stephenson and Co. Locomotive builders, Darlington (a controlled establishment) from May 1914 until he enlisted in June 1918.
William completed his secondary education at evening classes at Darlington Technical College. After completing his apprenticeship in 1921 he worked for J W Scott (Builder, Railway View, Aycliffe) as a draughsman/designer. 1922-3 he worked for Thomas Summerson and Sons in Darlington in therailway construction department, survey and design.1923-24 he worked as a foreman in the Sudan Government Railways Department.
1924-26 William then worked as an assistant master at Darlington Technical College before obtaining a Kings Scholarship at Kings College, London, 1926-30. William gained a degree in engineering, a post graduate course on heat engines and a teaching diploma. While at Kings College he was attached to the Officer Training Corps.
After graduating William taught at Tamworth Technical College, Barnsley Holgate Grammar (1932-37), Canterbury and Gravesend.
William became Headmaster at Redditch Technical College 1940-50 and then Kingston Technical College 1950-63. During his teaching career William also worked for the Royal Air Force Educational Service (ATC), and trained many air cadets in the same engineering skills he taught his school pupils.
William also maintained links with Surtees Freemason Lodge, Shildon from 1928 until 1959 and was a member of the Institute of Civil Engineering.
In 1937 William inherited Orchard House which was sold in 1952 on the death of his mother Margaret, who had continued to live there under the terms of her husband's will.
William Pinkney junior had two daughters.
Cecil Pinkney served in the Royal Air Force groundstaff until 1928, after which he trained to be a priest at Durham. Cecil was vicar at Templeton in Devon in the 1930s and then from 1947 he was Curator of the Norris Museum in St Ives, Huntingdonshire.
William Pinkney senior left his medals and military papers to Cecil's eldest son Gerald, who had been born at Orchard House in 1928.
St Andrew's Church 1930s
Interior of St Andrew's Church