James Tobin

James Tobin (1736/7–1817) was a prominent merchant and planter based in Nevis. During his life, he became one of the most prominent proslavery activists from the West Indies. Life Tobin was born in London, the son of James Tobin Sr. of Nevis, identified tentatively in the ODNB with the sea captain James Tobin (1698–1770), as given in Caribbeana. Educated at Westminster School, he took articles as a solicitor. After a period in Nevis, he returned in 1784 to Bristol. He was in business there, with John Pretor Pinney, and advocated for the planters' point of view on the abolitionist movement. He was a member of the Bristol West India Association. Tobin travelled first to Nevis in 1758, to work in the family plantation business, at Stoney Grove Estate. From 1760 to 1782 he was there at least three times. He went back there in 1808. In 1817, the year of his death, there were 213 enslaved people on the Stoney Grove plantation. In the end Tobin quarrelled with the Pinney family. He died in Bristol, on 6 October 1817.