J31811 Ordinary Seaman George Pinnock, Royal Navy
Born on 19th October 1898 in Twickenham, Middlesex
Died at Sea 31st May 1916 aboard H.M.S. Black Prince off Jutland
Family and Home 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
George Edward Pinnock was born in Twickenham, Middlesex, the eldest of the four children of Edward Henry Pinnock and Ruth, née Goldsmith. His brother Arthur Pinnock was born on 1st October 1901, his sister Marjorie May on 22nd June 1908 and his sister Iris Ruth on 17th May 1914. Their father was a Domestic Gardener.
In the 1901 Census, the family lived at Fourth Cross Road, Twickenham. However, they moved to Little Gaddesden in September 1903 when George’s father became Head Gardener to the Hon Alfred Talbot at Little Gaddesden House. Their address was then: The Gardens, Little Gaddesden House.
Education 4
George started at Little Gaddesden School on 28th September 1903. The School Log Book entry reads:
Entered George Pinnock (Inft.) on Registers. This little boy (5 years old next month) has attended Woking School for a short time.
He left the school on 21st October 1912 when he was 14 years old.
Joining the Little Gaddesden Scout Troop 6
George and his younger brother Arthur Pinnock joined the Little Gaddesden Scout Troop at its first meeting on October 26th 1911. George was in the Lion Patrol, Patrol Leader Frank (Henry F.) Johnson and Arthur Pinnock a member of the Peewit Patrol, whose Patrol Leader Arthur Whitman was killed at St Julien on 31st July 1917. The Scouts first met in the Reading Room at John o’Gaddesden’s House but meetings soon moved to the Armoury at 27 Little Gaddesden, the home of their Scout Master, Harry Temple, who was assisted by 17 year old Bernard Phillips. Miss Bridget Talbot, who wrote the Scout Diary, was their President and Mr Humphrey Talbot their Treasurer.
Other members of the Lion Patrol who served in the First World War were: Stanley Austin, Sidney Bellamy, Edward Bunn, Kenneth Edge, Gerald Green, Jim Whitman and their Patrol Leader Frank (Henry F.) Johnson.
Scouts in the other Patrols who served were: Albert Basford, Philip Collier, Donald Goodman, Francis Green, Arthur Halsey, Bernard Halsey, Percy Hobbs, Archie Wells and Frank Whitman.
Preparing to join the Royal Navy 6
A November 1912 entry in the Little Gaddesden Scout Diary states that:
At the beginning of Nov: George Pinnock left the Scouts to go to the Sea Training Home at Liscard. The evening before he started off for his sea-life the Scouts gave him 3 cheers as he left the Armoury. Everyone was sorry to lose him from the Troop and all the Scouts will watch his naval career with interest.
Liscard was located in Wallasey, Cheshire and regularly took boys from Hertfordshire.
Military Service 7
From 11th June 1914, after leaving Liscard, George served as a Boy Sailor, 2nd Class aboard the Boys’ Training Ship HMS Powerful at Devonport.
War is declared 6
An August 1914 entry in the Scout Diary notes that
War between England & Germany was declared on Aug 4. The L.G. troop are proud to record that their former Asst Scoutmaster (who had left some time ago to join the Royal Navy) Bernard Phillips is now serving his country on board H.M.S. “Implacable”. George Pinnock is also on H.M.S “Powerful” waiting to go to sea.
Promotion 7
On 3rd October 1914, George, not quite 16 years old, was promoted to Boy Sailor, 1st Class. Then, on 4th December he was transferred for a month to HMS Pembroke 1, a naval shore barracks at Chatham.
HMS Black Prince 7
16 year old J31811 George Pinnock, Boy Sailor 1st Class, then served aboard HMS Black Prince from 8th January 1915.
It was a Duke of Edinburgh Class Armoured Cruiser, built in the early 1900s, which had recently joined the Grand Fleet as part of the 1st Cruiser Squadron. George was promoted to Ordinary Seaman on 19th April 1916 when he was 17½ years old. He was then 5 feet 6¾ inches tall with a 34 inch chest. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. George had already signed up for a period of 12 years’ Naval Service from his 18th Birthday on 19th October 1916. However, that was not to be.
Death at the Battle of Jutland 8, 9
On 31st May 1916, the ships of the First Cruiser Squadron were involved in the Battle of Jutland. During the night, HMS Black Prince became separated from her sister ships and, in searching for them, stumbled across the entire German battle line between 750 and 12,000 yards away. That distance was effectively point blank range for naval weapons of the time. However, HMS Black Prince did not initially realise that she was facing German battleships. Although she did managed to turn away and to launch torpedoes, she was sunk with the loss of 857 officers and men, including Ordinary Seaman George Pinnock.
“An awful naval disaster off Jutland” 10, 11
In a diary entry of 2nd June 1916, Bridget Talbot wrote:
…an awful naval disaster off Jutland – Queen Mary, Black Prince etc all sunk too awful… I do hope George Pinnock is not on the Black Prince – such a splendid boy and so keen about his job – it wd. be terrible if he had gone down…
On 6th June George’s mother was informed that he had been killed in action.
Having given his life for his country 12
The account of the meeting of the Herts Navy League, reported in the Hertford Mercury and Reformer of 15th July 1916 included the following information:
Fifty-five Hertfordshire boys had been maintained at the training home at Liscard during 1915, including three County Council scholarship boys, and there were 38 boys from the county there at the present time. They had been enabled to train an increased number of boys mainly through the generosity of kind friends who had given special sums. This home gave an opportunity for boys from the county to go straight from school into the finest of all the professions, and to teach them discipline and self control, improve their health and give them a training which would be most advantageous to them in after life if at any time they wished to leave the sea… 20 of their old boys were serving with the fleet, one of them, George Pinnock, son of the head-gardener to Mr Talbot, at Little Gaddesden, having given his life for his country.
Commemoration at Chatham 9
In common with other casualties of the Battle of Jutland, George’s body was not recovered for burial. Ordinary Seaman G. E. Pinnock is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial, Panel 16.
His Grave Registration Report recorded him as the “son of Edward Henry and Ruth Pinnock, of The Gardens, Little Gaddesden, Berkhamsted, Herts”.
We will remember them 13, 14
George Pinnock is the youngest man from Little Gaddesden to be commemorated on the War Memorials on the village green and in St Peter & St Paul’s Church. He is also named on the Roll of Honour in the church.
He was posthumously awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal, which were forwarded to his father. His next of kin would also have received a memorial plaque and scroll; an example of the scroll and covering letter can be seen in William Mayling’s entry.
George’s younger brother Arthur Pinnock, J69610 Royal Navy, who survived and who served again during the Second World War, is also named on the Roll of Honour.
References
1. https://www.findmypast.co.uk England & Wales births 1837-2006 Transcriptions
2. https://www.findmypast.co.uk 1901 England, Wales & Scotland Census Transcription
3. Little Gaddesden Baptism Register 1813 – 1947
4. Little Gaddesden School Log Books 1887 – 1906 and 1906 – 1934
5. https://www.findmypast.co.uk 1911 Census for England & Wales
6. The Little Gaddesden Scout Diary 1912 – 1922, HALS, Hertford, Acc 3131
7. https://www.findmypast.co.uk British Royal Navy Seamen 1899-1924, Pinnock, George Edward
8. http://www.jutland1916.com/ships-stories/hms-black-prince/
9. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/3051500/pinnock,-george-edward/
10. Bolton, Roger & Julia (2013) A Family at War – The Talbots of Little Gaddesden, Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd.
11. https://www.ancestry.co.uk UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960 for George Edward Pinnock
12. https://www.findmypast.co.uk The Hertford Mercury and Reformer, 15th July 1916, Annual Report of the Herts Navy League.
13. https://www.ancestry.co.uk UK, Naval Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1972
14. https://www.findmypast.co.uk British Royal Navy Seamen 1899-1924, Pinnock, Arthur
Do you have any questions about the information recorded here? Or do you have any further information that you can share with us about those from Little Gaddesden who died or fought for their country? In either case, please contact Jane Dickson at war-remembrance@littlegaddesdenchurch.org.uk.
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Research: Jane Dickson and David Heard. Text and (unless otherwise credited) photos: Jane Dickson