Trophy name:Pinhey Cup
First presented:1957
Inscription:Awali Golf Club - The Pinhey

Louis Alexander Gordon Pinhey was born on 8 Oct 1901 and died on 20 Oct 1988.

He served in the British military and diplomatic service in Baluchistan (reaching the rank of Colonel) from the 1920s to the 1940s. A summary of his career to 1947 is here [Source (page306)].

He was appointed [Source] as Assistant Political Agent in Bahrain on 22nd November 1949 (the Political Agent was the most senior British politician living in Bahrain whose remit covered only Bahrain).

As a contemporary of Charles Belgrave, they socialised together on many occasions. Within Belgrave's reminiscences, there are at least 90 references to "Pinhey", the first of these appearing in April 1950 ("Cocktail party at the Pinheys"). Another entry, from 1952, is "Russell, Brown & Pinhey came to discuss various matters mainly the Company's desire to provide some schools for the government, in the villages", and the last appears in April 1957 ("Saw Lewis [sic] Pinhey, it always strikes me that he has not got much work to do").

It is fair to say that Mr. Pinhey would have introduced himself with the English pronunciation of his first name loo-iss, more commonly spelt "Lewis". Sadly, we have not located any picture of him.

In the Club's early history, competitions with net prizes, and off-scratch match plays were divided into three Flights: Gents Flight-1, Gents Flight-2 and Ladies Flight.

The Kingsbury Cup trophy was awarded to the winner of the Gents Flight-1 off-scratch match-play (our earliest record is for the 1938/39 season).

The winner of the Gents Flight-2 was presented (originally, commencing in 1939) with the Deacon Shield, and the winners name was engraved into a pre-attached name plate. But the Deacon Shield was time limited due to the fixed number of name plates present (there were 13). Unfortunately the location of the Deacon Shield is unknown, but we do have a couple of photos of it (see "1939: Deacon Shield" for further details).

The earliest reference to a "Pinhey" in the Bahrain Islander was in the 1955/56 season, and to a lady:

(12th April 1956) In the Clemitson Cup for ladies, Lee Scarff is several lengths ahead. She now has nineteen points with Mrs N. Pinhey and Miss Totham her nearest rivals.

"L. Pinhey" was a member of the AGC Committee only once, serving as the Club's Honorary President in the 1956/57 season. As Belgrave's last reference to Pinhey was in April 1957, it is likely that he was leaving Bahrain soon after, and donated the Pinhey Cup towards the end of the 1956/57 season. It is thought that the Deacon Shield had exhausted available name plates, so was retired in the 1955/56 season, and replaced by The Pinhey in the 1956/57 season.

This is confirmed by the 4th April 1957 edition of the Bahrain Islander (there was no reference to "Pinhey" in the Islander before this date, ap):

The Ayto Cup was in previous years the trophy awarded to the winner in the Novices Competition, which was abandoned this season. It is now open to players with handicap 20 to 24. The ladies will be competing in their own cup for the first time this year... Pinhey – handicap 13 to 19.

The Pinhey Cup is still awarded to the winner of the Gents Flight-2 off-scratch match-play knockout.