{{Short description|British politician}} {{About||the Scottish botanist and civil servant|George Swinton (botanist)|the Canadian artist|George Swinton (artist)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Captain | name = George Swinton | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|CBE|DL|country=GBR|size=100%}} | office = Lord Lyon King of Arms | term_start = 1927 | term_end = 1929 | monarch = Edward VII<br>George V | predecessor = James Balfour Paul | successor = Francis James Grant | office1 = Albany Herald | term_start1 = 1923 | term_end1 = 1926 | predecessor1 = William Rae Macdonald | successor1 = Wolseley Haig | office2 = March Pursuivant | term_start2 = 1901 | term_end2 = 1923 | predecessor2 = William Brown of Balmangan | successor2 = Wolseley Haig | birth_date = {{Birth date|1859|05|10|df=y}} | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland | death_date = {{Death date and age|1937|01|17|1859|05|10|df=y}} | parents = Archibald Campbell Swinton<br/>Georgiana Caroline Sitwell | relatives = Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton (brother)<br/>James Rannie Swinton (uncle)<br/>John Swinton (grandson)<br/>Tilda Swinton (great-granddaughter)<br/>Honor Swinton Byrne (great-great-granddaughter) }} [[File:William Orpen Group portrait of the family of George Swinton.jpg|thumb|right|263px|The family of George Swinton by William Orpen]] [[File:Coat of Arms of the Court of the Lord Lyon.svg|thumb|200px|right|The heraldic achievement of the Office of the Lord Lyon King of Arms.]] Captain '''George Sitwell Campbell Swinton''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CBE|DL}} (10 May 1859 &ndash; 17 January 1937) was a long-serving Scottish politician and officer of arms.

==Life and work== [[File:Mrs. George Swinton.jpg|thumb|left| Mrs. George Swinton (née Elizabeth "'Elsie" Ebsworth), John Singer Sargent, 1897]] 175px|thumb|right|Arms of Clan Swinton Swinton was born at 7 Darnaway Street<ref>edinburgh Post Office Directory 1859</ref> on the Moray Estate in west Edinburgh, the second son of advocate Archibald Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame, Berwickshire, of Clan Swinton, and wife Georgiana Caroline Sitwell, daughter of Sir George Sitwell, 2nd Baronet of Renishaw. In 1895 he married Elizabeth "Elsie" Ebsworth OBE, daughter of E. H. Ebsworth of Gattonside. The couple had one son and two daughters. Elizabeth was an accomplished singer and performed professionally later in life.

He studied art under Professor Herkomer and other masters.

Swinton was appointed a Sub-Lieutenant in the Haddington, Berwick, Linlithgow and Peebles Artillery on 7 February 1877<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24415|page=559|date=6 February 1877}}</ref> (which commission he resigned on 11 May 1878<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24593|page-3614|date=14 June 1878}}</ref>), gazetted to the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot in May 1878,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=24580|page=2989|date=10 May 1878}}</ref> promoted to lieutenant on 23 January 1881, to captain on 11 September 1888, and retired in 1893.<ref>Hart's Army list, 1901</ref> He was an extra Aide-de-Camp to the Marquess of Lansdowne when he was Viceroy of India from 1888 to 1894. In January 1900 he was appointed temporary Staff Captain at Army Headquarters.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27167|page=1173| date=20 February 1900}}</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times | title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=9 February 1900 |page=11 |issue=36061}}</ref>

Swinton was also the unsuccessful Conservative candidate for Paisley in 1900. He was a Member of London County Council representing Holborn from 1901 to 1907 and Dulwich from 1922 to 1928. He was Chairman of the Parks and Open Spaces Committee in 1904–1905, and Chief Whip of the Municipal Reform Party (the Conservative group on the council) from 1903 to 1912. He was an Alderman from 1907 to 1912, and 1920 to 1922. He became Chairman of the London County Council in 1912, but resigned on accepting the post of Chairman of the Town-planning Committee of the new Imperial City of Delhi.<ref>{{cite book |title=Committees an commissions in pre-independence India 1836–1947, Vol. 4|author=M. Anees Chishti|chapter=Delhi Town Planning Committee |publisher=Mittal Publications|year=2001|isbn=81-7099-804-2 |page=217 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O9Wck_MEB9cC&dq=Paharganj&pg=PA220 }}</ref> He was attached by the Colonial Office to the Representatives of the Overseas Dominions attending the Imperial Conferences in 1917 and 1918; foreshadowed, in August 1917, the Scottish National War Memorial in Edinburgh Castle; Honorary Secretary of the Scottish National War Memorial Committee, 1918.

Swinton was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of London in 1926.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33192|page=5446|date=17 August 1926}}</ref> He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in January 1928.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33344|page=41|date=3 January 1928}}</ref>

Swinton also served as March Pursuivant of Arms Extraordinary. He was Albany Herald of Arms in Ordinary from 1923 until 1926 and served Lord Lyon King of Arms and Secretary to the Order of the Thistle from 1927<ref>{{cite news|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Times/1926/News/New_Lyon_King_of_Arms|title=New Lyon King of Arms|date=14 September 1926|work=The Times|pages=17|access-date=17 July 2009}}</ref> until 1929.

Swinton is the grandfather of Major-General Sir John Swinton and great-grandfather of actress Tilda Swinton.

== Publications == ''A Garden Road''; ''Development''; ''London: Her Traffic, Her Improvement, and Charing Cross Bridge''; several papers on social subjects, the problems of traffic, and the improvement of London.

==Arms== {{Infobox coat of arms wide | name = Captain George Sitwell Campbell Swinton | image = Arms of George Sitwell Campbell Swinton.svg | imagesize = | notes = | year_adopted = | crest = | escutcheon = ''Sable, on a chevron or a crescent gules, between three boars heads erased argent within a bordure engrailed ermine.'' | motto = | orders = | bannerimage = | banner = | badgeimage = | badge = | symbolism = | previous_versions = }}

==See also== * Heraldry * Court of the Lord Lyon * Clan Swinton

==Notes== {{reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/4749 Portrait by John Singer Sargent of Mrs George Swinton in The Art Institute of Chicago]

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Edward White}} {{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the London County Council|years=1912}} {{s-aft|after=Lord Cheylesmore}} {{s-herald}} {{s-bef|before=William Brown of Balmangan}} {{s-ttl|title=25px|center March Pursuivant|years=1901-1923}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Thomas Wolseley Haig}}} |- {{s-bef|before=William Rae Macdonald}} {{s-ttl|title=25px|center Albany Herald|years=1923-1926}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Thomas Wolseley Haig}}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir James Balfour Paul}} {{s-ttl|title=25px|center Lord Lyon King of Arms|years=1927–1929}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Francis James Grant}} {{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swinton, George}} Category:1859 births Category:1937 deaths Category:19th-century British Army personnel Category:Military personnel from Edinburgh Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:71st Highlanders officers Category:Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Deputy lieutenants of the County of London Category:Highland Light Infantry officers Category:Members of London County Council Category:Municipal Reform Party politicians Category:Politicians from Edinburgh Category:Scottish genealogists Category:Lord Lyon Kings of Arms George