Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Pyne, Valentine
PYNE, VALENTINE (1603–1677), master-gunner of England, the second son of George Pyne of Curry-Mallet, Somerset, was born in 1603. He served with his father as an officer of the ordnance in the expedition to Cadiz in 1623, and in 1627 in the expedition to the Ile de Ré, after which he served in the royal navy till the outbreak of the civil war, when he served with Charles I's army. After the execution of the king he served for fifteen years as a volunteer with Prince Rupert both at sea and in the campaigns in Germany. On the accession of Charles II Pyne became in 1661 lieutenant of the Tower garrison, and later commander in the navy, and served in the first Dutch war. He succeeded Colonel Weymes as master-gunner of England in 1666, and died unmarried on 30 April 1677; a mural tablet was erected to his memory in the chapel of the Tower of London.
A brother, Richard Pyne, was appointed master-gunner of Gravesend on 31 Oct. 1673.
[Proc. Royal Artillery Institution, xix. 280; Army Lists; Dalton's English Army Lists, pt. i. p. 10.]