Author: Pinkney, Edward Coote
Biography:
PINKNEY, Edward Coote (1802-28: ANBO)
Pinkney's parents were both from Maryland, but he was born in London, England, during one of his father's diplomatic missions there, and received his early education in a second posting, 1806-11. He was the seventh of ten children of William and Ann Maria (Rodgers) Pinkney. From 1811 to 1815 he went to school in Baltimore, first at St. Mary's College and then at Baltimore College. He joined the US navy as a midshipman in 1815, serving mostly on ships in the Mediterranean, and was more than once at odds with his superiors. (He seems to have had a belligerent streak: in civilian life, later, he was at least twice rescued from the brink of a duel.) He returned to Baltimore in 1822 but did not resign his commission until 1824. He began publishing poetry and studying law. In 1824 he married Georgiana J. McCausland, with whom he had one child. Though called to the bar, he could not make a living as a lawyer. On the strength of good reviews, he was appointed professor of rhetoric and literature at the University of Maryland, but the position was not funded, so he gave it up. He eventually secured a post as editor of a newspaper, The Marylander, in 1827, but was forced by ill health to retire in 1828. He died of liver disease in Baltimore and was buried in the Unitarian cemetery there; in 1872 his remains were transferred to the Pinkney lot in Greenmount Cemetery (also in Baltimore). Some of his poems were included in Griswold's anthology Poets and Poetry of America (1842); Mabbott and Pleadwell included some previously unpublished material in their memoir, Life and Works of Edward Coote Pinkney, in 1926. (ANBO 26 June 2020; DAB) HJ
Other Names:
- Edward C. Pinkney