Henry Swinburne
Encyclopedia
Henry Swinburne was an English travel writer.
on 8 July 1743, into a Catholic family, and was educated at Scorton
school, near Catterick
, Yorkshire
. He was then sent to the monastic seminary of Lacelle
in France. He afterwards studied at Paris
, Bordeaux
, and in the Royal Academy at Turin, devoting special attention to literature and art. The death of his brother, who had devised to him a small estate at Hamsterley
in Durham
, placed him in independent circumstances. He proceeded to Turin
, Genoa
, and Florence
.
He met in Paris his future wife Martha, daughter of John Baker of Chichester, solicitor to the Leeward Islands
, who was being educated at a convent of Ursuline nuns. They were married at Aix-la-Chapelle on 24 March 1767. The couple then settled at Hamsterley
, where the husband laid out the estate. They passed the autumn of 1774 and the following months until September 1775 at Bordeaux
, and then visited the Pyrenees
. Swinburne in the company of Sir Thomas Gascoigne
travelled through Spain, returning to Bayonne
in June 1776. A manuscript describing his journey was sent to Samuel Henley
as editor. It was published in 1779 as Travels through Spain, 1775 and 1776, illustrated with drawings of Roman and Moorish architecture.
On his return to Bayonne in June 1776 Swinburne, with his family, travelled to Marseilles, and a supplementary volume describing the expedition was issued in 1787. They then sailed to Naples
, and travelled in the Two Sicilies, where they stayed for 1777 and 1778, and for the early months of 1779. Their return to England was by Vienna, Frankfurt, and Brussels, and they arrived in London in July 1779, but after a few months in England passed once more through France to Italy (March to July 1780) and then until November in Vienna. They formed acquaintance with literati in each country, and received compliments from the Catholic sovereigns. At Vienna Maria Theresa
conferred on Mrs. Swinburne the female order of La Croix Étoilée, and the Emperor Joseph II
stood godfather to their son of that name. They were in Brussels from February to June 1781, and again crossed to England.
By this time Martha's property in the West Indies had been laid waste. With letters of introduction to the French court, from Vienna, Swinburne went to Paris (1783), and through Marie-Antoinette' s influence obtained a grant of all uncultivated crown lands in the island of St. Vincent
valued at £30,000. In February 1785 William Pitt
offered half that sum for it, and on receiving a refusal passed through parliament a bill to impose heavy taxation upon the unproductive lands in all the West Indian islands. Swinburne then parted with his interest for £6,500. From September 1786 to June 1788 Swinburne was again in Paris, and high in favour with Marie-Antoinette. His eldest son was enrolled among the royal page
s, and placed under the care of the Prince de Lambesc.
Swinburne's later years were clouded by misfortune. His eldest daughter, Mary Frances, married on 7 September 1793 Paul Benfield, whose wealth crumbled away as rapidly as it grew, and Swinburne was involved in the ruin. His eldest son died in a storm on his way to Jamaica
in 1800.
In the meantime Swinburne was sent to Paris in September 1796 as commissioner, to negotiate an exchange of prisoners with France, but, in the face of difficulties arising from the capture by the French of Sir Sidney Smith, was unsuccessful, and in December 1797 was recalled to England, In December 1801 he went out to the lucrative post of vendue-master in the newly-ceded settlement of Trinidad
, and also as commissioner to deliver up the Danish West Indian islands to a Danish official. He died from sunstroke at Trinidad on 1 April 1803, and was buried at San Juan
, where his friend. Sir Ralph Woodford, raised a monument to his memory.
(Decline and Fall
, chaps, ix. and x.)
The first volume of Swinburne's Travels in the two Sicilies. 1777-1780, was published in 1783, and the second came out in 1785, with plates from Swinburne's drawings. A second edition appeared in 1790; a French translation of them by La Borde was issued at Paris in 1785, and in the same year a German translation by J. R. Forster was published at Hamburg. At a later date La Borde translated the supplementary Journey from Bayonne to Marseilles.
There were published in 1841, under the editorship of Charles White, two volumes entitled The Courts of Europe at the close of the last Century, which consisted of the letters of Henry Swinburne, mostly on foreign life (dating from March 1774, and chiefly addressed to his brother, Sir Edward Swinburne); many of the anecdotes and statements must be read with caution (Quarterly Review, lxviii. 146-76). They were reprinted in 1895
, Northumberland, third baronet and head of an old Roman Catholic family, who married on 20 July 1721 Mary, only daughter of Edward Bedingfeld, and grand-daughter of Sir Henry Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, Norfolk. His father died in January 1745, and his mother died at York on 7 February 1761.
He had four sons and six daughters.
Life
He was born at BristolBristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
on 8 July 1743, into a Catholic family, and was educated at Scorton
Scorton
Scorton is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. Scorton was first mentioned in the 1173 version of the Domesday Book.-History:...
school, near Catterick
Catterick, North Yorkshire
Catterick , sometimes Catterick Village, to distinguish it from the nearby Catterick Garrison, is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
. He was then sent to the monastic seminary of Lacelle
Lacelle
Lacelle is a commune in the Corrèze department of central France.-Population:...
in France. He afterwards studied at Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, and in the Royal Academy at Turin, devoting special attention to literature and art. The death of his brother, who had devised to him a small estate at Hamsterley
Hamsterley
Hamsterley may refer to the following places:* Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland, England* Hamsterley, Consett, EnglandHamsterley is also a surname and may be:* Ralph Hamsterley , Master of University College, Oxford...
in Durham
Durham
Durham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
, placed him in independent circumstances. He proceeded to Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, and Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
.
He met in Paris his future wife Martha, daughter of John Baker of Chichester, solicitor to the Leeward Islands
Leeward Islands
The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...
, who was being educated at a convent of Ursuline nuns. They were married at Aix-la-Chapelle on 24 March 1767. The couple then settled at Hamsterley
Hamsterley
Hamsterley may refer to the following places:* Hamsterley, Bishop Auckland, England* Hamsterley, Consett, EnglandHamsterley is also a surname and may be:* Ralph Hamsterley , Master of University College, Oxford...
, where the husband laid out the estate. They passed the autumn of 1774 and the following months until September 1775 at Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
, and then visited the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
. Swinburne in the company of Sir Thomas Gascoigne
Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 8th Baronet
Sir Thomas Gascoigne, 8th Baronet was the son of Sir Edward Gascoigne, 7th Baronet and a member of the Gascoigne family....
travelled through Spain, returning to Bayonne
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune in south-western France at the confluence of the Nive and Adour rivers, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
in June 1776. A manuscript describing his journey was sent to Samuel Henley
Samuel Henley
Samuel Henley D.D. was an English clergyman, school teacher and college principal, antiquarian, and man of letters.-Life:Born in England, he began his career when he was recruited as a professor of moral philosophy for William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. He arrived in 1770...
as editor. It was published in 1779 as Travels through Spain, 1775 and 1776, illustrated with drawings of Roman and Moorish architecture.
On his return to Bayonne in June 1776 Swinburne, with his family, travelled to Marseilles, and a supplementary volume describing the expedition was issued in 1787. They then sailed to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, and travelled in the Two Sicilies, where they stayed for 1777 and 1778, and for the early months of 1779. Their return to England was by Vienna, Frankfurt, and Brussels, and they arrived in London in July 1779, but after a few months in England passed once more through France to Italy (March to July 1780) and then until November in Vienna. They formed acquaintance with literati in each country, and received compliments from the Catholic sovereigns. At Vienna Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
conferred on Mrs. Swinburne the female order of La Croix Étoilée, and the Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
stood godfather to their son of that name. They were in Brussels from February to June 1781, and again crossed to England.
By this time Martha's property in the West Indies had been laid waste. With letters of introduction to the French court, from Vienna, Swinburne went to Paris (1783), and through Marie-Antoinette' s influence obtained a grant of all uncultivated crown lands in the island of St. Vincent
Saint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
valued at £30,000. In February 1785 William Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
offered half that sum for it, and on receiving a refusal passed through parliament a bill to impose heavy taxation upon the unproductive lands in all the West Indian islands. Swinburne then parted with his interest for £6,500. From September 1786 to June 1788 Swinburne was again in Paris, and high in favour with Marie-Antoinette. His eldest son was enrolled among the royal page
Page
-Position or occupation:* Page , a traditionally young male servant* Page * Page of Honour, a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom* A participant in any of the following programs:...
s, and placed under the care of the Prince de Lambesc.
Swinburne's later years were clouded by misfortune. His eldest daughter, Mary Frances, married on 7 September 1793 Paul Benfield, whose wealth crumbled away as rapidly as it grew, and Swinburne was involved in the ruin. His eldest son died in a storm on his way to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
in 1800.
In the meantime Swinburne was sent to Paris in September 1796 as commissioner, to negotiate an exchange of prisoners with France, but, in the face of difficulties arising from the capture by the French of Sir Sidney Smith, was unsuccessful, and in December 1797 was recalled to England, In December 1801 he went out to the lucrative post of vendue-master in the newly-ceded settlement of Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, and also as commissioner to deliver up the Danish West Indian islands to a Danish official. He died from sunstroke at Trinidad on 1 April 1803, and was buried at San Juan
San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago
San Juan is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It lies in North Eastern Trinidad, between Barataria and St. Joseph.It is a busy town in the East-West Corridor; the centre of town is known as the Croisee. Population is 54,900 , and it is the third city of the country, larger than the capital. San Juan...
, where his friend. Sir Ralph Woodford, raised a monument to his memory.
Works
Travels through Spain, 1775 and 1776 was published in 1779. In 1787 it was reprinted in two octavo volumes, and in the same year a French translation by J. B. De la Borde came out at Paris. Abridgments, with engravings from some additional drawings by Swinburne, appeared in 1806 and 1813. This was the first antiquarian book in England on Spain. The Travels are cited by Edward GibbonEdward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
(Decline and Fall
Decline and Fall
Decline and Fall is a novel by the English author Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1928. It was Waugh's first published novel; an earlier attempt, entitled The Temple at Thatch, was destroyed by Waugh while still in manuscript form. Decline and Fall is based in part on Waugh's undergraduate years...
, chaps, ix. and x.)
The first volume of Swinburne's Travels in the two Sicilies. 1777-1780, was published in 1783, and the second came out in 1785, with plates from Swinburne's drawings. A second edition appeared in 1790; a French translation of them by La Borde was issued at Paris in 1785, and in the same year a German translation by J. R. Forster was published at Hamburg. At a later date La Borde translated the supplementary Journey from Bayonne to Marseilles.
There were published in 1841, under the editorship of Charles White, two volumes entitled The Courts of Europe at the close of the last Century, which consisted of the letters of Henry Swinburne, mostly on foreign life (dating from March 1774, and chiefly addressed to his brother, Sir Edward Swinburne); many of the anecdotes and statements must be read with caution (Quarterly Review, lxviii. 146-76). They were reprinted in 1895
Family
He was the fourth son of Sir John Swinburne of CapheatonCapheaton
Capheaton is a village in Northumberland, in England, about to the northwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. It was built as a planned model village in the late eighteenth century...
, Northumberland, third baronet and head of an old Roman Catholic family, who married on 20 July 1721 Mary, only daughter of Edward Bedingfeld, and grand-daughter of Sir Henry Bedingfeld of Oxburgh, Norfolk. His father died in January 1745, and his mother died at York on 7 February 1761.
He had four sons and six daughters.