The Pirner family

Pirner of Arlington Street and Harrow

Presently we know little about the Pirner family of Arlington Street in Westminster and Harrow on the Hill in Middlesex. They were probably of German origin, coming to Britain with the entourage of the House of Hanover sometime in the 18th century. There may have been two brothers :

John Pirner of Westminster. He was educated at St.Pauls School and on 14th March 1772 at St.George's, Hanover Square, he married Mary Dighton of St.Andrew, Holborn. Nothing more is known of them.

and the other brother, our ancestor

● WILLIAM CASPER PIRNER, an Apothecary who worked in partnership with the better known Augustus Everard Brande (1746-1834). Brande was a citizen of Hanover in Germany, naturalised in 1784, whose youngest son, William Thomas Brande (1788-1866) was a noted pioneer of the science of Chemistry. Brande and Pirner's premises were probably at 10 Arlington Street, Westminster. On 4th September 1774 at St.George's Hanover Square, Pirner married ANNE, illegitimate daughter but sole heir of Sir THOMAS ROBINSON, 1st Baronet of Rokeby in Yorkshire by ELIZABETH NICHOLSON of St.Anns, Westminster.

By 1777 Pirner was Joint Apothecary to their Majesties along with Mr Brande. They supplied goods to several members of the gentry including George 3rd Earl of Egmont. From about 1797/8 to about 1812 he appears to have worked alone. In the Northwick family papers he is connected with a Mr Smethurst and in 1804 Pirner purchased some land at Sudbury Common near Harrow on the Hill. According to 'The Environs of London, published in 1810, he then owned a villa 'on the side of the (Sudbury) hill'...'some time in the occupation of Prince Castelcicala, and now in that of Sir James Cockburn, Bart.'

William and Anne Pirner appear in the group portrait of Thomas Payne with his family and friends by the Dutch artist, Louis François Gérard van der Puyl, painted about 1787. This painting forms part of the collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Anne died on 3rd August 1824. William died 'overseas' on 12th January 1836, allegedly aged 99, leaving the following known issue

1. Mary Anne Pirner, who married on 17th February 1798 at St.George's Hanover Square Henry Yonge (1776-1833). She may have died in 1842, leaving six known children.
2. MATILDA ELIZABETH PIRNER, who married on 13th December 1803 at St.George's Hanover Square PETER THOMAS RYVES. They had five known children.
3. Elizabeth Sarah Pirner, who married at St.George's Hanover Square on 10th October 1805 James Edward Yonge, a first cousin of the Henry Yonge noted above. They had no known children and she died at the Royal Medical Benevolent College at Epsom in Surrey on 23 October 1857.