John Tinker (governor)

John Tinker 1700-58 was an early Colonial official who served the Royal African Company on the Gold Coast, was an Agent for the South Sea Company in Portobello and was Royal Governor of the Bahama Islands from 1741-58

Early Life

John Tinker was born and baptised on 30 July 1700 to parents Jeremiah and Hannah^[1] at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. His grandfather was Captain John Tinker,^[2] Master Attendant of the King’s Yard at Deptford^[3] who commanded ‘The Coverdine’ during the reign of Charles II.^[4] In 1722 John went to the Gold Coast to the British trading post of Cape Coast Castle for the Royal African Company, which traded principally in gold and slaves,^[5] where he headed up a three-man team to manage the facility. In 1724 he was joined on the Coast by his brother Jeremiah^[6] who was based close by at Whydah^[7] and also by Nathaniel Rice (later to be a relative). He remained there until 1726 when both Tinker and Rice returned to England.^[8]

Portobello

By 1730 Tinker had been appointed Chief of the Panama Factory at Portobello for the South Sea Company where he was responsible for organising the import of slaves under the Asiento agreement reached at the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.^[9] He was in post throughout the 1730s though it seems doubtful his family joined him in Panama as his sons were at school in England and wife Isabella was residing in London.^[10] In 1738^[11] it was announced that he was to be the next Governor of the Bahamas so it is likely he had left Portobello before Admiral Vernon captured it but he was still involved in affairs because in 1739, when the Board of Trade was considering ways to prevent the Spanish from exporting from their silver mines in Peru and Mexico, both Tinker and his father-in-law Martin Bladen^[12] suggested locating a military base at Darien on the Isthmus of Panama, but Vernon rejected this idea as the location was too isolated and would need to be garrisoned.^[13]

The Bahamas

Tinker did not arrive in post until April 1741^[14] and his first priority was strengthening the island’s military defences by building Fort Montagu at the entrance to Nassau Harbour, which was accomplished within the first year, and also a small battery nearby which he called Bladen’s Battery (named for his son). When funds for fortifications ran low and Bahamians were taxed to raise money, he had difficulties with his Assembly. They were unhappy with the new taxation and stopped his salary and so he dissolved the Assembly. Despite these difficulties and war with Spain and France, privateers in Nassau seized enemy ships and the whole economy shared in prize money from the vessels. In fact, so many Bahamians were involved in privateering, that traditional industries like agriculture were neglected.^[15] Tinker had found it difficult to eradicate privateering or entice new settlers as the cost of living was high and the currency was in a poor state. Most of the difficulties he encountered he tended to blame on the people he governed, rather than his own ability to govern.

Freemasons

Tinker had joined the Freemasons in London in 1730 and, in 1755, he made the long journey from New Providence to Philadelphia to attend the greatest procession of Masons ever seen in America at the inauguration of a new Lodge. Tinker, along with Benjamin Franklin and son William Franklin were at the head of a procession of 160 Masons in full regalia through the streets led by a sword bearer and which was accompanied by peals of bells and the firing of cannons from a nearby ship.^[16]

Marriage

On 6 February 1727/28 he married Isabella Bladen, the daughter of Martin Bladen a senior commissioner at the Board of Trade^[17] and he received a generous marriage settlement.^[18] They had two sons: John Bladen Tinker 1728-67 and Jeremiah Tinker 1730-95. John Tinker later lived in the Bahamas separately from wife Isabella, née Bladen, who remained in London (though they were not divorced) and he had a second family in the Bahamas with Sophia Trigge (later wife of his secretary John Snow).^[19] John Tinker died on 10 July 1758 in the Bahamas.^[20]

References

1. Westminster Archives: St Martin-in-the-Fields, 30 July 1700
2. TNA: PROB 11/356 Will of Admiral Tinker: written March 1676, probate April 1678
3. Letters of Samuel Pepys 1633-1703
4. Calendar of State Papers, domestic series of the reign of Charles II
5. African Historical Studies 1, 2 (1968) English Chief Factors on the Gold Coast 1632-1753 by R Porter
6. Death: “At Cape Coast Castle in Africa, Jeremiah Tinker Esq., Governor of the said Fort: The Historical Register containing an Impartial Relation of all transactions, foreign and domestick with a chronological diary of all the remarkable occurrences.” Volume 23, p15. 1738
7. The Political State of Great Britain, Volume 34, p613. 1727
8. Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America: The Eighteenth Century. Elizabeth Donnan
9. The Secret History of the Late Directors of the South Seas Company by David Templeman, pp24-27 show him corresponding with the Directors in 1730 and 1734
10. Westminster Rate Books show Tinker paid rent on London property throughout the 1730s - likely to be for his wife Isabella
11. The Historical Register: containing an impartial relation of all transactions foreign and domestic: for the year 1738. Volume 23 Treasury Books and Papers - August 1739, Volume 4 pp259-266
12. 'Martin Bladen: A Biography' by Karen Proudler ISBN 978-0-9566831-5-1 and 'Early Yorkshire Bladens' by Karen Proudler ISBN 978-0-9566831-6-8
13. The Navy in the War of 1739-48 by Sir Herbert William Richmond
14. Memoirs of Peter Henry Bruce, a military officer in the services of Prussia, Russia and Great Britain containing an account of his travels in Germany, Russia, Tartary, Turkey, The West Indies etc as also several very interesting private anecdotes of the Czar, Peter I of Russia. Printed Dublin. 1783
15. Islanders in the Stream: A History of the Bahamian People. Volume 2: From Aboriginal Times to the End of Slavery. By Michael Craton, Gail Saunders
16. The Life of Benjamin Franklin: soldier, scientist and politician 1748-57. Volume 3 by Joseph A Leo Lemay. 2009
17. RG7 / Piece 828 / Folio 3 Fleet Notebooks. Clandestine Marriages: Isabella Bladin and John Tinker, 6th February 1727/8. Officiating Ministers: Floud, Ryder, Crawford, Evans
18. TNA: C12/74/99 Tinker v Bladen 1773
19. Will of John Tinker, dated 1754: http://cms.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/johntinkerswill.pdf
20. More Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies by Vere Langford Oliver