Sir William Pynsent, 2nd Baronet

Sir William Pynsent, 2nd Baronet (c. 1679–1765) was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1722.

He is commemorated by a tall monument at Curry Rivel, Somerset erected by William Pitt the Elder, to whom he left his entire fortune.

[1] Pynsent acquired an estate at Burton through his wife, and after the general election of 1715 was returned on petition as a Whig Member of Parliament for Taunton on 30 August 1715.

Horace Walpole wrote of him: "He was said to have had parts and humour, not many scruples, living to her death with his only daughter, in pretty notorious incest".

His will gave no reason for the bequest, merely observing: "I hope he will like my Burton estate, where I now live, well enough to make it his country seat".