Patrick Don Swan of Springfield

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 ...

DL (1808–1889) was a Scottish shipowner and shipbuilder who served as Provost of

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

. He was a friend of

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

Life

He was born on Whyte's Causeway in

on 19 August 1808 the son of William Swan (d.1833), a yarn merchant, and later Provost of the town. Patrick was educated at Hill Place School and Kirkcaldy Burgh School. He was also privately tutored by

with whom he became a life-long friend. Patrick was a

flax Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

merchant, then branched into shipping, founding Swan Brothers. Patrick served as Provost from 1841 to 1845 and 1853 to 1886, an unprecedented period in office of 37 years. In the 1840s he corresponded with Richard Cobden regarding Cobden being given the freedom of Kirkcaldy. At the Disruption of 1843 he joined the

Free Church of Scotland Free Church of Scotland may refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1843–1900), seceded in 1843 from the Church of Scotland. The majority merged in 1900 into the United Free Church of Scotland; historical * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), rema ...

and sat on their Committee representing Presbyterian churches in the Colonies. In 1876 he donated a site in Kirkcaldy for the erection of a Free Church (now known as St Bryce's). The church contains a memorial window to him by Edward Burne-Jones. In 1870 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

John Hutton Balfour John Hutton Balfour (15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884) was a Scottish botanist. Balfour became a Professor of Botany, first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, moving to the University of Edinburgh and also becoming the 7th Regius Keepe ...

. He died at home, St Brycedale House, a Robert Adam mansion, in Kirkcaldy on 17 December 1889. He is buried in the parish churchyard. The Swan Memorial Building is named in his memory.

Family

He never married and had no children.

Artistic Recognition

He was portrayed several times, most notably by

Norman Macbeth Norman Macbeth (Greenock 1821 – 27 February 1888 London) was a Scottish portraitist. Life He was born at Greenock, where his father James Macbeth was an excise official. He served a seven years' apprenticeship as an engraver in Glasgow ...

References

1808 births 1889 deaths People from Kirkcaldy Scottish merchants Scottish shipbuilders Scottish politicians Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish businesspeople {{Scotland-provost-stub