William Pinder Went was the son of the Rev. James King Went, who had matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 1826.¹ ² 

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James King Went owned the Thorpe Cottage estate in Barbados, and claimed £1790 9s 4d in compensation for 80 enslaved people he owned there.³ ⁴ As the executor of the estate of his grandfather (George Thorpe, who had died in 1825), James was further awarded £1238 18s 4d for enslaved people across three other Barbadian estates.³ ⁵

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It is likely that at least some of the money financing William Pinder's education two decades later was derived from his father's ownership of enslaved people, and in particular from the over £3000 in compensation his father received in 1836/37 for enslaved people on his and his grandfather's Barbadian property.