188 THE STORY OF THE BETTISCOMBE SKULL. 



This John Pinney could be, of course, no other than John 

 Pretor,* who assumed the name of Pinney, as stated by 

 Hutchins, on succeeding to the estates of his cousin, John 

 Frederick Pinney, M.P. for Bridport, in 1762. That he was 

 living in 1795 is evident from the fact that the " Plantation 

 Book " records a list of slaves who in that year were conveyed 

 by him to his son, John Frederick Pinney, whilst there also 

 occurs a list of those retained. This second John Frederick 

 Pinney would seem, however, to have presently parted with 

 the Nevis estates, for I find in the same book " a list of slaves 

 on the estate of the late John Pinney, Esq., purchased by 

 and now belonging to Edward Huggins, taken on the 1st of 

 January, 1811," the period at which, no doubt, the estates 

 also passed into the hands of Mr. Huggins, whose sole sur- 

 viving grand-daughter, whom I have already mentioned, 

 still occupies the old and roomy house at Montravers (where 

 some of the old mahogany furniture may still be foundf), 

 picturesquely terraced by lichen-covered and moss-grown 

 steps flanked by old iron railings, with the solidly-built stone 



* This is corroborated by a copy of a letter (110 date) which appears at the 

 end of the above-mentioned " Plantation Book," evidently written from one 

 member of the Pinney family to another, in which mention is made of " our 

 uncle Pretor," and invoking the assistance of " Mr. Nelson " towards obtaining 

 some appointment which the writer desired. 



t Miss Huggins has kindly sent me a couple of old leaves from the " Planta- 

 tion Book " upon which an inventory of the furniture, taken in the year 1794, 

 has been made. It is surprising to see what a quantity of handsome furniture 

 the well-to-do sugar planters of the West Indies must have had out there in 

 those days, though there is very little of it to be found out there now. Miss 

 Huggins tells me that it appears that it was intended to take the inventory in 

 1783, but it was not done ; and she alludes to the fact that a picture of Azariah 

 Pinney mentioned therein had been taken away by a Miss Weekes, and says 

 what I endorse " a pity she did not leave it ! " No doubt this lady was a 

 relation of the family, as John Pinney (Pretor) had in 1742 married Jane, 

 a daughter of W. B. Weekes, of Nevis. Probably this was done when the 

 Pinneys left Nevis for good and settled in England. Is nothing known of 

 this portrait amongst the Pinneys of Somerton Erleigh, in Somerset ? 



