Born John Pretor, he was brought up by a cousin John Pinney after his father died. His guardian died in 1762 and John Inherited his estates in the west country and several slave plantations on the Island of Nevis on condition he changed his name to Pinney. He travel to Nevis in 1764. He found the plantation worn down. He sold some of the older slaves their freedom to avoid taxes and doctors charges on those that could not work and brought new slaves (many of them children, who he could 'season' to the work) and became a very successful sugar planter, He returned to England in 1783 with a fortune of around £70,000. He sold his Mounttravers plantation to another Nevis planter, Edward Huggins (a very cruel planter) for £35,650. The enslaved workers at first resisted and refused to work. Huggins had them flogged in the Market. One woman received over 291 lashes and three others over 200 each. One woman died a few days later. Huggings was acquitted of murder but the publicity in Britain helped change public opinion about slavery. On his return to England John Pinney settled in Bristol. He set himself up as a sugar Factor with James Tobin a Friend from Nevis, handling the sugar and supplies for other planters. They also lent money and took over the estates and enslaved people, if the loans were not paid. At his death his fortune was about £340,000 (the equivalent of around £17 million today). The family affairs were taken over by his son, Charles Pinney. He kept control of some of the plantations in order to get the compensation paid for wach slave when slavery itself was abolished in 1834.