Exhibition: The History of Walton Hall

Owners of Walton Hall: The Pinfolds

Charles Pinfold (1709-1788)

The eldest son of Charles and Renea Pinfold, Charles Pinfold, inherited the estate at Walton following his father's death in 1754. Like his father, he was a Doctor of Civil Law. In 1736 he was admitted as an Advocate in the Court of Arches. In 1751 he was appointed Advocate for the Office of Admiralty. He became Governor of Barbados in 1756 and remained in the post for ten years, finally leaving the island to return to England on 27 May 1766. During his tenure he oversaw the highly unpopular Stamp Act of 1765. This was an Act of Parliament which imposed a direct tax on British colonies in America and the Caribbean and required many printed materials to be produced on stamped paper from London. The tax was imposed to raise money for British troops stationed in the colonies. It was met with protests including in Barbados and was repealed in 1766. Charles Pinfold didn’t marry and left no heirs. On his death in 1788 at the age of 80, the Walton estate passed to his nephew Charles Pinfold (c.1777-1857), son of his brother Joseph who had died the year before. Charles was buried at Walton on 2 December 1788 but there is no visible grave.

A portrait of Charles Pinfold is shown on this page. It was painted by the artist Thomas Hudson in 1756 when Charles, aged 47, was appointed the Governor of Barbados. 

Joseph Pinfold (1723-1787)

Joseph Pinfold was only the second of Charles and Renea Pinfold’s sons to live into adulthood. He became a merchant and in 1765 he was charged with a commission from the assembly of the island of Barbados where his brother Charles was Governor. According to one newspaper dated 12 August 1765, Joseph visited Barbados to be charged with the commission to "lay before the Lord Commissioners of trade and plantations, for the further cultivation and improvement thereof". 

At the age of 47 Joseph married Martha Johnson (1741-1806) by licence on 24 July 1770 at St George’s Church in Hanover Square, London where Martha had been baptised in 1741. She was the daughter of John and Dorothea Johnson and was eighteen years younger than Joseph. The couple had at least six children – five daughters named Maria Dorothea, Arabella, Charlotte, Louisa and Harriot and one son named Charles who was born c.1777. Charles inherited the Walton estate from his uncle Charles Pinfold in 1788 when he was about eleven years old. 

Joseph Pinfold died aged 64 in 1787 and was buried at Walton on 28 December of that year. Martha died in 1806 aged 65 and was buried at Walton on 3 September. The couple's graves are no longer visible, they may still exist under the floor of St Michael's Church or they may be one or more of the indecipherable headstones standing close to the Pinfold tomb described on the previous page. 

Five years before her death, Martha Pinfold made a will and appointed her eldest surviving daughter Arabella the sole Executrix. She divided most of her belongings between Arabella and Louisa but also bequeathed a few individual items to family members and an individual called Mrs Bates, who was most likely a member of staff at Walton Hall: "I leave to my son [Charles] the wrought cup and leave also the cup which was given by the Borough of Romney to my daughters and all my remaining plate, furniture &c. not hereby disposed of except what is left to Mrs Euphemia Bates whom Mr Pinfold had frequently said to me 'let us always remember to provide for and make her comfortable for we and our children owe her much.' I leave her the bed and chair she sleeps on usually, 6 table spoons, 6 or more teaspoons, 6 table and 6 dessert ditto [spoons], the table and glass and ten pounds to my Brother and to my ever kind sister Effie(?) my gold snuff box and watch, to my good sister Pinfold [Ann] her Brother's picture which I always wear and I know she will value."

Ann Pinfold (1722-1806), named in Martha's will, never married and ultimately died a few months before her sister-in-law, on 5 March 1806 aged 84 years. 

The second image on this page is of a memorial in St Michael's Church. The memorial is dedicated to the four members of the Pinfold family discussed on this page - Charles Pinfold (1709-1788), his sister Ann and his brother Joseph, along with Joseph's wife Martha. It was erected by the surviving three children of Joseph and Martha - namely Charles, Arabella and Louisa. There is more about Arabella and Louisa on the next page. Charles (c.1777-1857) became Captain Charles Pinfold and inherited Walton Hall. His story is featured in the next theme of this exhibition, 'Nineteenth Century'.