I have come to the conclusion that at least in the case of Barbados records, the description "Planter" is a code-word for "white". In all my research and perusal of tens of thousands of Barbados records, I have not come across a single instance of a black or coloured person being described as a planter. However, "planter" does not necessarily mean "rich": many of the people so described would have been small land-holders, or even people who did not actually own the land, but rented or leased acreage from the wealthy land-holders, on which they cultivated cane, which at harvest time would then be sold back to the large growers or directly to the sugar factories. There were a few coloured families who were extremely wealthy plantation owners (e.g. the Belgraves). I would be very interested to hear if they are ever described as "Planters", or if anyone has found evidence that would prove me wrong. Ernest M. Wiltshire Friends of the Barbados Archives 38 Inglewood Place, Ottawa Ontario, K1Y 4C7, Canada