William Swinburne was a pioneering builder of steam locomotive

Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...

s in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

Swinburne was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1805. By 1833 he had moved to Paterson, New Jersey

Paterson, New Jersey

Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...

, where, in 1837 he was employed by Rogers, Ketchum and Grosvenor

Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works

Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works was a 19th-century manufacturer of railroad steam locomotives based in Paterson, in Passaic County, New Jersey, in the United States. It built more than six thousand steam locomotives for railroads around the world. Most railroads in 19th-century United States...

 as a pattern maker. He left Rogers employ in 1848 to form his own company in a partnership with Samuel Smith. Swinburne's company did not survive the Panic of 1857

Panic of 1857

The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Indeed, because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the time of the 1850s, the financial crisis which began in the autumn of 1857 was...

 and was purchased in 1858 by the New York & Erie Railroad to serve as the railroad's repair shops in Paterson.

After leaving the locomotive manufacturing trade, Swinburne held a number of public offices in Paterson until his death in 1883.