Frances Coker

Frances Coker (26 August 1767 – 12 April 1820) was born enslaved on Nevis. She was a domestic servant to John and Jane Pinney of Nevis in the West Indies and Bristol, England. She was manumitted (freed) in 1778, after which she continued to work for the Pinney family as a free woman. In Bristol, she lived at 7 Great George Street, the Pinneys' house (now The Georgian House Museum). As Jane Pinney's maidservant Coker travelled widely in England as well as revisiting her family in Nevis.

Early life on Nevis Frances Coker was born on 26 August 1767 on John Pinney's Mountravers estate, Nevis. She was born into slavery, as her mother was an enslaved woman named Black Polly. Black Polly was probably enslaved in Nigeria aged about twelve, and had been brought to the island of Nevis from St Kitts by John Pinney, who had purchased her together with eight other male children. Black Polly worked in the Pinneys' house as a seamstress, so Coker was brought up in that household.

After she was manumitted, Coker was paid a wage and continued in service for the Pinney family in Nevis as Jane Pinney's maid. In 1783, the Pinney family returned to England, taking with them two servants: Coker was one and the other was Pero Jones, an enslaved man (after whom Pero's Bridge in Bristol is named). Coker had to leave her mother behind in Nevis, as well as her half-sister Hetty, and half-brother Billy Jones (whose father was said to have been John Pinney).

John Pinney also had houses called Racedown in Broadwindsor, Dorset and Somerton Erleigh in Somerton, Somerset, and as Jane Pinney's constant companion, Coker accompanied her to their country houses, as well as to places such as Exmouth, Weymouth and London. Occasionally Coker was in charge of looking after Racedown and, whilst enjoying greater freedom on her own, she would have had to adjust to a quiet, rural life. On long trips, she took with her the one truly private item all servants possessed: a lockable trunk for personal belongings. According to the Baptist records, she had "lived honourably and died comfortably". In 1926, her remains were moved with many others from the Baptist Burial Ground to Greenbank Cemetery, Bristol, where a memorial marks the reinterment.