The Pickin line begins in the Shropshire parishes around Rodington and Upton Magna in the late seventeenth century and follows the family eastward into the Staffordshire potteries during the industrial expansion of the nineteenth century. The earliest documented Pickin is Edward, who died in 1713. Two generations of the line — Lucy Pickin in the late eighteenth century and her mother Sarah Picken before her — are recorded as unmarried mothers in the parish registers, and the surname accordingly passes through them. Their story is a common one in English rural records of the period, and the line continues unbroken through their female descent.
11 · earliest documented
Edward Pickin
d. 1713
Shropshire
10
Francis Pickin
b. 1677
Rodington, Shropshire
9
Francis Pickin
1703 – 1742
Rodington, Shropshire
8
Richard Pickin
b. 1736
Upton Magna, Shropshire
7
Sarah Picken
b. 1758
Upton Magna, Shropshire
No husband is recorded for Sarah in the surviving parish documentation. The line continues through her daughter Lucy, who carried the Pickin name forward.
6
Lucy Pickin
late 18th century
Shropshire
No husband is recorded. The line continues through her son Thomas Pickin, baptised 1824 at Rodington, who carried the name into Staffordshire as the family followed the industrial migration to the Potteries.
5
Thomas Pickin
1824 – 1878
Rodington, Shropshire
Eliza Pickin
b. 1835 · Longton, Staffordshire
4
James Pickin
1858 – 1902
Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire
Emily Ibbs
b. 1863 · Longton, Staffordshire
married 6 May 1886
3 · most recent fully documented
George Pickin
1894 – 1943
Longton, Staffordshire
Minnie Victoria Bright
1898 – 1974 · Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex
married 30 June 1917
George & Minnie · 30 June 1917
Service
George Pickin enlisted on 16 March 1914, five months before the outbreak of war, into the 5th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment (Territorial Force), service number 2095. He later transferred to the 8th Battalion East Surrey Regiment, service number 206232, and served overseas from 1916. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was discharged on 17 February 1919 under King's Regulations paragraph 392 (xvia) as no longer physically fit for war service, and was issued the Silver War Badge B256662 on 6 August 1919. He served as a Private throughout.
The three inverted chevrons visible on his right sleeve in the wedding photograph are Overseas Service chevrons, each representing one year of service abroad, and not rank insignia.
Children of George and Minnie
Amy Georgina Pickin
1918 – 1999
Married Harry Shore on 1 January 1938.
Amy & Harry · 1 January 1938
Irene May Pickin
1920 – 1975
Married Ernest Rix in 1938 and Frederick Knights in 1952; her marriages and later life are documented on the Knights line.
Eric James Pickin
1925 – 2000
Married Ruby Alice Laitt in 1951. Ruby died in 1995.
A fourth child
Born c. 1930. Held privately.
Afterwards
George Pickin died in 1943. The following year Minnie married George Frederick Lambert (1883–1964), with whom she lived in Essex until his death. She survived him by a decade, dying in 1974.
Minnie & George Lambert · c. 1950s
The line continues into the twentieth century through their daughter Irene May Pickin, who married into the Knights line. Emily Ibbs's ancestry is documented on the Ibbs line; Minnie Bright's ancestry is documented on the Bright line.
