WILLIAM E. HINCH was born in Pennsylvania on January 17, 1916 to Joseph and Catherine Hinch. The family was living in Philadelphia when the 1920 census was taken. Joseph and Catherine Hinch and their ten children were living at 832 Federal Street in Camden when the Census was taken in April of 1930. The Hinch family was living at 403 South 5th Street in South Camden when the 1940 Camden City Directory was compiled, Joseph Hinch, however, had passed away. Joseph A. Hinch, the oldest son of Joseph and Catherine Hinch, married during the 1930s and appears to have moved away from Camden. By 1956 they were living on Lincoln Avenue in Atco, New Jersey. William E. Hinch, his mother and brother John were still at 403 South 5th Street when the 1947 Camden City Directory was compiled. Another brother, Michael Hinch, was then living at 821 Fern Street in North Camden.

William E. Hinch was appointed to the Camden Fire Department in the first quarter of 1948. Not long after his appointment he was assigned to Engine Company 9 at North 27th & Federal Street in East Camden.

Bob Odell, a career Camden fire fighter, and the only Camden fire fighter to be drafted during the Korean War, wrote in 2009:

When I was enslaved into the US army out of Engine 9 Bill Hinch ( Hinchy) took my spot in 9s, when I was finally freed Hinchy was still at 9s. Was told I could have my spot back and they would send Hinchy to 11s or I could go to 11s, God told me take 11s with Jake [John D. "Jake" Huelas]. If I remember right he had a home at the shore called East Point or something like that, off Route 47. 

The 1956 and 1959 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directories show William Hinch living at 1535 Wildwood Avenue in Camden's Parkside neighborhood. It appears that he left Parkside in the 1960s. Their is a listing in the 1970 New Jersey Bell Telephone Directory for W.E. Hinch at 1113 North 18th Street in Cramer Hill, and one for William E. Hinch at Lincoln Avenue in Atco. His nephew, William E. Hinch II was appointed to the Camden Fire Department in the summer of 1969, and it appears that both men utilized the address for employment purposes. By 1976 residency restrictions had been lifted, and the North 18th Street address was no longer used. Sadly, William E. Hinch II died of injuries sustained in an automobile accident in April of 1976.

William Hinch was still an active member of the Camden Fire Department as late as 1977. Assuming he worked until the mandatory retirement age of 65, he would have retired in 1981.

William E. Hinch was last a resident of Villas in Cape May County, New Jersey. He died on September 4, 1996.