SWAINSON, WILLIAM (1789-1855) was born at Newington Butts, London, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson. His family belonged originally to Welford, Kirkby Ireleth, Furness, Lancashire. His grandfather held a high position in the customs, and his father, who was lord of the manor of Hoylake, Cheshire, was collector of customs at Liverpool (1807-24). William conceived a taste for natural history from his father's collection of British shells and insects, and as a boy neglected his education for that hobby. His progress in languages was hindered by a serious impediment in his speech, and at the age of 14 he was appointed a junior clerk in the Liverpool customs. His passion for natural science developed into a strong desire to go abroad, and in 1806 he was appointed to a junior position on the staff of Commissary-general Wood. In 1807 he proceeded to Malta, and later to Sicily, where he spent eight years with the army of occupation. He had much leisure, which he devoted to the study of zoology and botany both there and in Greece. An outbreak of plague at Malta enforced upon him a new period of leisure, during which he completed his Greek and Sicilian sketches and arranged his collections. Swainson accompanied the army before which the French withdrew from Calabria. He was promoted unusually early to deputy-assistant commissary general (1810), and assistant (1813) and was then appointed chief of the department in Genoa. In 1814 he rejoined headquarters in Palermo. Under the guidance of Baron Bivona and other naturalists, he continued his work for the Flora Sicula and his study of the ichthyology of western Sicily.

In 1815 Swainson was compelled for health reasons to return to England, and he retired on half-pay to devote himself to scientific pursuits (1816). (F.L.S, 1816.) He now prepared to enter upon scientific exploration in South Africa; but took the opportunity of joining an expedition to Brazil with Koster (which sailed Nov 1816). The revolution of 1817 detained him in the Olinda district, and he accordingly proceeded to Rio de Janeiro, and there made the acquaintance of Dr Langsdorff and other members of the Austrian scientific expedition. With them he made many short journeys, and returned to England with rich collections of plants. (F.R.S., 1820.) He took an active interest in the use of lithography for the production of the Zoological Illustrations (1820-23) and in order effectively to superintend this work, in monthly parts, he moved to London, where he spent the next three years. The reception of this publication encouraged him to go on with the early numbers of Exotic Conchology (1822-25), but owing to technical difficulties, he could not finish the work. He was disappointed in his hope of a post in the British Museum (in place of Dr Leach). In 1823 he married Mary, only daughter of John Parkes, of Warwick, and in Paris he met Cuvier, St Hilaire and others. Thrown back upon authorship by the death of his father (1826), Swainson revised the entomological portion of Loudon's encyclopedias of agriculture and gardening, and afterwards wrote a companion volume on zoology, for which he made the drawings on wood. To be able to do this work, he left Warwick and lived at Tittenhanger Green, in Hampshire. There he spent six years working out his system of zoological classification, which eventually appeared in the Preliminary Discourse. After spending six months (1828) sketching in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, he gave an outline of his views on their natural arrangement. Amongst his publications were the zoological portion of Murray's Encyclopedia of Geography, Birds of Brazil (1834); the birds of the Northern Zoology; The Birds of Western Africa (1837); and a volume on the natural arrangement of the flycatchers (1838).

Swainson in 1835 became a widower. Disappointment and financial losses in Mexican mines caused him to become interested in colonisation as an escape, and in 1839 he purchased land in New Zealand. He became a member of the committee of the New Zealand Company and of the Church of England committee to negotiate for the appointment of a bishop to New Zealand. Here ended his scientific literary work. Before leaving England he married (1840) Anne, daughter of Joseph Grasby, of Bawtry, Yorkshire. Swainson sailed with his family in the Jane which, after being laid up for repairs in Bahia for some weeks, reached New Zealand in Jun 1841. He selected three country sections of 100 acres each at the Hutt, and established there his estate of Hawkshead (named after his ancestors' home in Westmoreland). A few months later, when he had his property well in hand, many of his exotic plants established, and two acres sown in wheat, Taringakuri (q.v.) and his followers, who had erected a pa on the bank of the river, claimed the land and commenced to fell trees. For the next few years Swainson was in constant dread of interference. During the trouble at the Wairau he could not move from his farm, though he was a magistrate of the territory. Being on half-pay, he refrained from taking part in political matters, but he did duty as an officer of the militia and had charge of a body of friendlies in the operations of 1846. Besides his Hutt property he took up a considerable area of pastoral land in the Rangitikei. He made little out of his properties, being dependent for some years on his half-pay.

In the early fifties Swainson spent some time, at the invitation of Australian governments, exploring the flora of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. The Australian trees were a difficult task for the naturalist, even after the work of Robert Brown and Cunningham. Swainson devoted himself entirely to gum trees, and before Jul 1852 claimed to have discovered the principle of their variation. He described altogether 1,520 species and varieties. Late in 1852 he commenced work for the government of Victoria. As a botanical draftsman he showed considerable skill and as an artist in water colours he made many sketches in the Hutt and Wellington districts during the years 1841-49. Swainson died at Lower Hutt, on 6 Dec 1855. He was a member of many learned societies abroad. In addition to the works mentioned, Swainson published Instructions for collecting and preserving subjects of natural history (1808; reprinted 1822 as The Naturalist's Guide); a description of birds collected on Sir John Franklin's voyage (1831); and papers before the Royal Society (1850, 1854). Mrs Swainson died on 23 Oct 1868. (See J. W. MARSHALL and A. W. F. HALCOMBE.)

Family information from Ian B. M. Hamilton, Lincoln's Inn, and J. W. Marshall; Leg. Council of Victoria, Proc., 1852; Cowan i; Ward (p); Arnold; Wakefield; Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, vol. xi (biog. and p.); Victorian Naturalists' Society Jour., Nov 1908; Royal Society of Tasmania, 1855; Swainson, op. cit; Taxidermy, with the Biography of Zoologists, 1840; Mitchell Library Swainson papers.

Reference: Volume 2, page 179

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