James Pinnell
Mayor of Oxford 1702/3
James Pinnell (c.1650–1723) was a tanner of St Aldate’s parish. His baptism is not recorded in the register of St Aldate’s Church (which is missing for the period around his birth), but it seems likely that he was the son of the James Pinnell of St Aldate’s parish who paid three shillings towards the subsidy on 24 June 1648 and tax on five hearths in that parish in 1665. When James Pinnell senior was assessed for poll tax there in March 1667, it appears that his wife was dead and his unmarried sister Elizabeth was looking after James and his three siblings.
James Pinnell junior was first elected on to the Common Council in 1671. In 1674 he was fined 5s. for going out of the house before the Mayor’s election was over, but the next year he was chosen Mayor’s Chamberlain by Tobias Browne.
Pinnell lived on the west side of St Aldate’s Street, to the south of the present Speedwell Street.
On 21 August 1679 Elizabeth, the wife of James Pinnell (tanner) was buried at St Aldate’s Church, but it is unclear whether this is his mother or his wife; the Mrs Elizabeth Pinnell buried there on 3 October 1694 could be his second wife.
In 1682 Pinnell was elected Junior Bailiff
Iin 1696, Pinnell was elected one of the Mayor’s Assistants. In that year, he paid tax on 18 windows in St Aldate’s parish.
On 14 April 1701 Pinnell was chosen an alderman, and was sworn in, paying £10 and giving the Macebearer a broad piece of gold.
On 16 April 1702 Pinnell’s daughter, Mary, married another tanner, Oliver Greenway, at St Aldate’s Church.
Pinnell was one of six people chosen to attend the Mayor at the Coronation of Queen Anne on 23 April 1702.
On 14 September 1702 Pinnell was elected Mayor, and at his first council meeting on 30 September he chose his new son-in-law Oliver Greenway as his Child and Richard Gardner as his Chamberlain.
Pinnell was one of the eight people selected to attend the Mayor at the coronation of George I on 20 October 1714.
Alderman Pinnell was buried at St Aldate’s Church on 5 July 1723.
Pinnell’s children
- Pinnell’s daughter Mary married Oliver Greenway at St Aldate’s Church on 16 April 1702.
- An Elizabeth Pinnell, probably his daughter, married Samuel Stacy of St Ebbe’s at St Aldate’s Church on 22 October 1707.
- Thomas, son of James Pinnell, was buried at St Aldate’s Church on 6 February 1739/40.