), which received royal assent on 11 April 1781, John Tripe adopted the surname and arms of Swete in lieu of his patronymic, in order to comply with the terms of a bequest[6] from Mrs. Esther Swete (1712–1781) formerly of 30 Great George Street,[7] Westminster, of Traine House in Modbury and of Preston in Ermington, Devon, and of Bath[8] in Somerset, a relative of the Yard family of Chudleigh, of which family was John Tripe's mother.

He was the last of the Swetes of Modbury and bequeathed his estates to his mother Esther, who treated her son's godson as the grandson she never had, and made him her heir.

In the amiable endowments and elegancies peculiar to her sex excelled perhaps by few, but by none in fortitude of mind and resignation to the will of God, with which she sustained the loss of her only son Adrian John Swete Esqr.

who died at the early period of 24 years, especially if the greatness of that loss were to be estimated by the high attainments of worth, that marked him as the scholar and the Christian.

The Swete arms appear on a modern escutcheon with the date "1472" sculpted above an archway in a stone wall at Traine House.

[14] On 1 January 1784 in St. Nicholas's Church, Nottingham,[18] Swete married Charlotte Beaumont (1765–1831), whom he had met in Matlock, Derbyshire, 2nd daughter of Rev.

Early distinguished by a purity of taste, a love of literature, and a thirst for knowledge, his cultivated mind retained thro' life a strong relish for liberal and elegant studies.

He lived and died in the bosom of a numerous and affectionate family, firmly trusting thro' the merits of Jesus Christ that he should again meet them in the enjoyment of a blessed immortality.

Here also again united by Death are deposited the remains of Charlotte his beloved wife who died 10th December 1831 aged 66 years.

The first part, titled "On some of the more remarkable British Monuments in Devon", combined a description of a visit to Spinsters' Rock (a dolmen at Drewsteignton), with an account of the discovery by Swete and his father of prehistoric urns in barrows on Haldon Hill.

[31] In addition to contributions to published works Swete wrote several unpublished journals and books including an autobiography and six volumes of poetry.

It had been his intention to go on a tour of Europe but instead he met Charlotte Beaumont in Matlock, Derbyshire and they were married in January 1784.

[1] One of the objects of the publication, an expensive undertaking financed by subscription and containing high quality reproductions of the several hundred of Swete's watercolours, was to preserve the originals from wear and tear.