H. G. Swainson, Esq.
(1831-1892)
17 July 1861

Volume 4, page 225, sitting number 4970.

[Identified as 'H.G. Swainson, Esq.' in the Silvy daybooks, this is probably Henry Gabriel Swainson.]

Christened at St Stephen’s in the town of St Albans, Hertfordshire, on 31 October 1831, Henry Gabriel Swainson was the son of the English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist William John Swainson, FLS, FRS. 

In April 1866 Henry Gabriel Swainson was censured for the abandonment and loss of the Granadian, a West Indian steamer carrrying valuable cargo. A Board of Trade enquiry, while praising him for having navigated a leaky vessel with disabled engines for eighteen days, handed down an adverse judgment, since it found he had abandoned his ship in calm waters within three or four miles of land. His certificate was suspended for twelve months.

On 10 April 1870 at Hong Kong he married Lilias Dunlop Findlay, daughter of the late Robert Findlay of Easterhill and Boturich, Scotland (Homeward Mail from India, China and the East, 4 June 1870).

He seems to have spent part of his life in New Zealand, and is mentioned in at least one article on the exploration of that country.

He appears on the 1881 census, living at 12 Southsea Terrace, Portsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, with his wife and three servants. At the time of the census, he described himself as 'Staff Comdr. R.N. Reserves. / Listed in Current Service as Supt. Portsmouth Observatory.' He was still at the same address ten years later, when the 1891 census was taken, by which time he had retired.

Henry Gabriel Swainson died, aged 62, on 20 July 1892 at 12 Southsea Terrace, Portsea. He left an estate valued at £6633. The abstract of the grant of administration to his widow describes him as a 'staff commander in the Royal Navy.'