Her father was a farm labourer at Moor Edge Farm, Totley when she was baptized on 17 April 1870. John Pinder died in March 1877 and two years later his 46 year old widow, Phoebe, remarried to the 25 year old Frederick Hassall.
Four years after the birth of her son, Albert, Letty married Robert Hodgson and they moved to Sutton in Ashfield leaving Albert to be brought up by his grandmother and her second husband. He was living with them in New Row (now called Summer Lane) Totley in 1891 aged 4 months whilst his mother works as a living-in domestic servant for Mr & Mrs Sydney Oxley at The Elms, Coal Aston.
In 1901 Albert and his cousin Harold Carr were both living with Phoebe and Frederick at Gleadless, Myrtle Hill where Frederick was working at his trade of brickburner.
Albert's great grandfather Robert Pinder and his wife Elizabeth had farmed a substantial area in Totley Bents, their home lying at what is now the junction of Penny Lane and Strawberry Lee Lane. His maternal great grandparents George and Hannah Elliott lived in the area around Hillfoot Road where George combined his trade as a stonemason with being a beerhouse keeper. Following George's death in 1859, Hannah kept the beerhouse going for many years.
Albert's grandmother Phoebe Hassall died in early March 1910 and was buried in Dore churchyard. Soon after this, Albert married Ella Maude Hill, the sister of Herbert Allan Hill, another of the men named on Totley War Memorial. In October 1910 their daughter was baptized at Christ Church, Dore, named Phoebe after Albert's recently deceased and much loved grandmother.
Albert's Army Service Record is among those that were destroyed during the Blitz in World War II so it is not possible to discover when he joined the Notts & Derby Regiment.
He was probably among those conscripted during 1916 but he may have volunteered and been among the men of the 17th Battalion (Welbeck Rangers) who landed in France on 6 March 1916 and suffered heavy losses on the Somme.
By June 1917 the Welbeck Rangers were in the trenches which were very heavily shelled and on the 4th June the Battalion HQ was at St Jean and took several direct hits.
Albert was probably wounded during the Battle of Messines Ridge which began on 7 June 1917. He died of his wounds on 20 June 1917 and is buried in Grave II.D.67 at Mendinghem Military Cemetery in Belgium. This cemetery was used for the dead from the 46th Casualty Clearing Station which is probably where Albert Pinder died.
In June 1917 Ella Pinder lost not only her husband but also her brother, Sgt Herbert Allan Hill. It is almost impossible to imagine the grief she must have felt at this double blow. There was eventually a happy ending for her though as after the War she married again and had several more children.
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