This collection contains the records of the Pinney family of Broadwinsor and Pilsdon in Dorset. As merchants and landowners, the Pinney family held extensive plantations in the West Indies, particularly on the island of Nevis. Bristol was the headquarters of their business within the United Kingdom, and they also held property interests within Bristol and in surrounding Somerset. The Pinney family's interest in the West Indies began when Azariah Pinney sailed to the island of Nevis in 1685 equipped with a Bible, six gallons of sack, four gallons of brandy and 15. He spent much of the rest of his life on Nevis, bound there for a period of ten years by an edict of James II and then until his death in 1719 by the difficulties of plantation management. Over time the family's holdings prospered and grew until they held several large estates in England and the Leeward Isles. Some members of the family ran the estates personally, and some governed as absentees from Racedown and Bristol. The Pinneys continued to be an influential family in both trade and politics throughout the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, and continue to play an active role in the preservation and management of their family archives today.
From the guide to the Pinney Collection, 1538-1948, (University of Bristol Information Services - Special Collections)
