George Swinton

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(1780–1854) was a Scottish civil servant who served as Chief Secretary to the British government during their colonial rule of India. During this time he was also a noted botanist.

Life

The grave of George Swinton, Dean Cemetery

He was born on 5 November 1780 the fifth son of

John Swinton, Lord Swinton The Hon John Swinton, Lord Swinton (1723–1799) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and writer who rose to be a Senator of the College of Justice. Life He was the son of John Swinton of Swinton House in Berwickshire, advocate, and his wife Mary Semp ...

and his wife, Margaret Mitchelson of Middleton. They lived at the family estate of

Swinton House Swinton may refer to: Places England * Swinton, Greater Manchester * Swinton, Harrogate, near Masham, North Yorkshire ** Swinton Estate, including Swinton Park * Swinton, Ryedale, near Malton, North Yorkshire * Swinton, South Yorkshire North ...

Berwickshire Berwickshire ( gd, Siorrachd Bhearaig) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. Berwickshire County Council existed from 1890 until 1975, when the area became part of th ...

. In 1802 he became a Writer (lawyer) to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. In 1814 he became "Persian Secretary" to the

Governor General of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

. In 1826 he took on the additional role of caring for the Botanical Gardens and began collecting plants for

Nathaniel Wallich Nathaniel Wolff Wallich FRS FRSE (28 January 1786 – 28 April 1854) was a surgeon and botanist of Danish origin who worked in India, initially in the Danish settlement near Calcutta and later for the Danish East India Company and the British ...

. He was made Chief Secretary of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1827. In 1827 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposer was Sir

David Brewster Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics ...

. From 1827 to 1833 he was Chief Secretary to the Government, based in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. He was also President of the Indian Board of Trade. In 1833 he donated seven skulls of "thugs and stranglers of central India" to the

Phrenological Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

Society of Edinburgh. He retired in 1833 and lived his later life at 4 Atholl Crescent in Edinburgh's West End. to 13 Great Stuart Street on the

Moray Estate The Moray Estate in Edinburgh was an exclusive early 19th century building venture attaching the west side of Edinburgh's New Town. Built on an awkward and steeply sloping site, it has been described as a masterpiece of urban planning. Backg ...

in west

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He died there on 17 June 1854. He is buried in

Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and on ...

Family

He married his cousin, Anne Elizabeth Swinton (d.1883). They had seven children. His son, James Samuel Swinton, served with the

Bengal Infantry The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing int ...

and died during the

Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief att ...

in 1858. His son, William Bentinck Swinton, was a Major in the

Madras Cavalry Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and died at

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

in 1876.Swinton Grave inscription, Dean Cemetery

Publications

*''Papa's Keepsake'' (a private printing as a gift to his children)

References

1780 births 1854 deaths People from Berwickshire Scottish botanists British East India Company Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-botanist-stub