He is mainly known for his authoritative biographies of Scottish artists but he also wrote several articles on Robert Burns and his family.
They subsequently had three sons John Noel (1886–1917), Edward Forbes (1888–1939) and Donald Stanley (1891–1976) who was awarded an OBE and Lloyd's Medal for Bravery at Sea during the Battle of the Atlantic.
According to his obituary,[1] Pinnington began his working life as a journalist in the United States and was for a number of years the editor of Scotch American.
[2] It seems that his interest in art history began when he researched and published the life and work of the Montrose artist, George Paul Chalmers.
At any rate, his wife and two elder sons are recorded as incoming passengers from Buenos Aires arriving at Liverpool on 22 October 1914.