PINNEY, John Frederick (1719-62), of Racedown, nr. Bridport, Dorset.

Inheriting one of the largest estates in Nevis, but brought up in England, Pinney first visited the island in 1739 to put his plantations in order, staying till 1742. During this time he was twice elected to the Charlestown assembly, which he apparently attended very irregularly. In 1747, now living permanently in Dorset, he was returned as a Tory vice George, Lord Deerhurst, who transferred to Worcestershire on finding ‘a purse of two hundred thousand pounds listed against me at Bridport and a very liberal hand to distribute the contents’.2Deerhurst to Edmund Lechmere, 18 June 1747, Lechmere mss, Worcs. RO. He visited Nevis again in 1749 for the last time, but retained his estates and influence there. The 2nd Lord Egmont, in his electoral survey, 1749-50, calls him ‘a very proper man’ to sit for Bridport, as he could procure the assistance of West India merchants, who carried weight in elections.

He died 11 Nov. 1762.