William Albert Pinker OBE (1847-1932) Richard Pinker September 2025
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Photos Left unknown attribution and Right courtesy The Daily Mirror, 4 June 1932
Long-term village residents recall the Pinker family from Box Hill. Several generations of the family lived at Tunnel Inn cottages; my father Aubrey was vice chairman of Box Parish Council from 1972 to 1975; my mother Nellie became a dinner lady at Box Highlands School when most women of her age were thinking of retiring; and I went to Box Highlands School after the Second World War and was part of the revival of Box Scouts. All these stories are recorded on the website.
I have never previously written about my ancestor William Albert Pinker, who was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his work at the British Museum. Amongst my family bits and pieces I came across a 1932 newspaper cutting about William Albert Pinker from Box who was awarded an OBE on his deathbed. My niece and I researched more and found that there was an entry for him in Wikipedia. This is his story.
I have never previously written about my ancestor William Albert Pinker, who was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his work at the British Museum. Amongst my family bits and pieces I came across a 1932 newspaper cutting about William Albert Pinker from Box who was awarded an OBE on his deathbed. My niece and I researched more and found that there was an entry for him in Wikipedia. This is his story.
Birth and Life in Box
William was born in Box in 1847, the nephew of my two-times great grandfather. William later recalled that he had little formal education, working seven days a week scaring birds off Box cornfields from the age of nine for 18 pence a week plus a hot meal on Monday lunch.[1] Later he started work in the Box quarries. Like his father James Pinker (1810-78), he was a stonemason and probably worked with James as an apprentice journeyman quarryman from a young age. The pair travelled around the area installing masonry in situ in churches and other significant buildings. It was a time of great manufacturing innovation and the beginning of the expansion of brick and stone houses, properties built to last with domestic apparatus shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The year of William’s birth also signalled advances in Victorian social reform, evidenced by the Factory Act of 1847 which limited child factory labour to 10 hours per day), not that it helped William’s rural education.
William’s mother Mary Chandler (1814–1882) was a Box Hill resident, whose family had long worked in the quarry trade. But the fortunes of the stone industry led to the Pinker family leaving Box in search of employment. William's parents and some siblings moved to Clifton, Bristol, where his mother Mary took work as a charwoman in 1871. His younger brother James (1853-1918) was also a mason who worked for the British Museum. Some of the family emigrated to Australia in the 1880s.
William was born in Box in 1847, the nephew of my two-times great grandfather. William later recalled that he had little formal education, working seven days a week scaring birds off Box cornfields from the age of nine for 18 pence a week plus a hot meal on Monday lunch.[1] Later he started work in the Box quarries. Like his father James Pinker (1810-78), he was a stonemason and probably worked with James as an apprentice journeyman quarryman from a young age. The pair travelled around the area installing masonry in situ in churches and other significant buildings. It was a time of great manufacturing innovation and the beginning of the expansion of brick and stone houses, properties built to last with domestic apparatus shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851. The year of William’s birth also signalled advances in Victorian social reform, evidenced by the Factory Act of 1847 which limited child factory labour to 10 hours per day), not that it helped William’s rural education.
William’s mother Mary Chandler (1814–1882) was a Box Hill resident, whose family had long worked in the quarry trade. But the fortunes of the stone industry led to the Pinker family leaving Box in search of employment. William's parents and some siblings moved to Clifton, Bristol, where his mother Mary took work as a charwoman in 1871. His younger brother James (1853-1918) was also a mason who worked for the British Museum. Some of the family emigrated to Australia in the 1880s.
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Work at British Museum
On 18 November 1872, twenty-five-year-old William moved to London to join the British Museum, Kensington, where he worked for the next sixty years. He started work in the museum’s Department of Antiquities, eventually becoming the masons’ foreman (sometimes called Chief Mason) in 1894. William rose through the ranks of the museum despite having limited academic qualifications. His combination of knowledge of stone and his practical experience in assembling masonry meant that he was a multi-skilled employee, a reliable person to administer the packing and transportation of fragile sculptures and lifting rare mosaics. His main skill was in the restoration of statues crumbling with age, an experience gained from installing filigree windows and repairing sculptures with his father. This knowledge helped him to assemble fragments of the Parthenon statues (sometimes called the Elgin marbles), which once adorned the Acropolis of Athens in the fifth century BC. William is said to have united a head and torso which had been unidentified for several years. His expertise enabled him to restore Greek, Roman, Assyrian and Egyptian sculptures stored at the museum. His reputation continued to grow until near to his retirement. About 1930 he worked on a model of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (see headline photo). The original sculpture was a monumental tomb, 148 foot high with sculptured reliefs on four sides, built about 350 BC in the Persian Empire and recognised as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The original was destroyed in an earthquake but William studied fragments held in the British Museum and reconstituted the model based on a sprung arch and a description by the poet Pliny. His work was considered more appropriate to a sculptor's assistant than to a mason.[2] |
Unknown attribution
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He retired on 5 April 1932, due to ill health and a few weeks later was admitted to Highgate Hospital with bronchitis. Two days before his death, he was granted an OBE in the 1932 King’s Birthday Honours list. He heard of it informally and was reputed to be looking forward to delightedly going to Buckingham Palace to receive it at the hands of the king (George V). William died on
3 June 1932 within a few hours of the official publication of the list and is buried in an unmarked grave in Highgate Cemetery. His successor at the museum said that his knowledge of marbles was extraordinary and he had a genius for moving huge groups of statuary with complete ease.[3]
3 June 1932 within a few hours of the official publication of the list and is buried in an unmarked grave in Highgate Cemetery. His successor at the museum said that his knowledge of marbles was extraordinary and he had a genius for moving huge groups of statuary with complete ease.[3]
Family Tree
Parents
James Pinker (1810-78) married in 1834 to Mary Chandler (1814–1882). Both were from Box. Children:
John (1837-), agricultural labourer;
Isaac (1841-) agricultural labourer;
Edwin (1842-) agricultural labourer;
Emma (1844-);
William Albert (1847-1932);
Thomas (1849-)
James (1853-)
Emmeline (1856-).
William Albert (1847-1932) married Jane Harris (1850-1911) from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in 1876 at Southwark. Children:
Jennifer "Jenny" (1878–1970) married Alexander George Gibbs;
Florence (1881–1929) married Albert Robert Holland; and
Rose (1884–1976) married Percy Robbins.
Parents
James Pinker (1810-78) married in 1834 to Mary Chandler (1814–1882). Both were from Box. Children:
John (1837-), agricultural labourer;
Isaac (1841-) agricultural labourer;
Edwin (1842-) agricultural labourer;
Emma (1844-);
William Albert (1847-1932);
Thomas (1849-)
James (1853-)
Emmeline (1856-).
William Albert (1847-1932) married Jane Harris (1850-1911) from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in 1876 at Southwark. Children:
Jennifer "Jenny" (1878–1970) married Alexander George Gibbs;
Florence (1881–1929) married Albert Robert Holland; and
Rose (1884–1976) married Percy Robbins.
References
[1] Much of the autobiographical details are courtesy "Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Briatain and Ireland, 1851-1951, William Albert Pinker - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951
[2] Alexander Murray, one-time Keeper of Antiquities at British Museum
[3] The Daily Mirror, 4 June 1932
[1] Much of the autobiographical details are courtesy "Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Briatain and Ireland, 1851-1951, William Albert Pinker - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951
[2] Alexander Murray, one-time Keeper of Antiquities at British Museum
[3] The Daily Mirror, 4 June 1932