William John Swainson

This article is about the scientist associated with New Zealand. For the lawyer and
New Zealand Attorney-General, seeWilliam Swainson (lawyer). For the botanist for
whom the genusSwainsonais named, seeIsaac Swainson.
William J. Swainson

Born 8 October 1789

St MaryNewington, London, United Kingdom
Died 6 December 1855(aged66)
Fern Grove,Hutt Valley, New Zealand
Residence United Kingdom New Zealand
Citizenship United Kingdom
Knownfor Prolificillustrativeworks of natural history.
NotedQuinarian.
Scientific career
Fields Ornithology,malacology,conchology,entomology,natural
history
Notable students Sir Walter Buller
Authorabbrev. (botany) Swainson
Notes
Emigrated to New Zealand in 1841
In thisZoological Illustrationslithograph Swainson depictedUrania
sloanus, a nowextinctspecies
William John SwainsonFLS,FRS(8 October 1789 6 December 1855), was an
Englishornithologist,malacologist,conchologist,entomologistand artist.

Contents[hide]
1 Life 2 Works on natural
history 2.1 Classification 3
New Zealand estate 4 Botanical studies in Australia
5 Common confusions regarding William Swainson
6 Common names of species named after William
Swainson 7 Partial bibliography 8
References 9 Further reading 10
External links

Life[edit]
Swainson was born in Dover Place, St MaryNewington, London, the eldest son
ofJohn Timothy Swainson, an original fellow of theLinnean Society.[1]He was
cousin of the amateurbotanistIsaac Swainson.[2]His father's family originated
inLancashire, and both grandfather and father held high posts in Her Majesty's
Customs, the father becoming Collector at Liverpool.
William, whose formal education was curtailed because of animpediment in his
speech, joined theLiverpoolCustoms as a junior clerk at the age of 14.[3]He joined
the ArmyCommissariatand touredMaltaandSicily[3][4]He studied
theichthyologyof westernSicilyand in 1815, was forced by ill health to return to
England where he subsequently retired on half pay. William followed in his father's
footsteps to become a fellow of theLinnean Societyin 1815.[3]
In 1806 he accompanied the English explorerHenry KostertoBrazil. Koster had
lived in Brazil for some years and had become famous for his bookTravels in
Brazil(1816).[5]There he met DrGrigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff, also an explorer of
Brazil, and RussianConsul General. They did not spend a long time on shore
because of a revolution, but Swainson returned to England in 1818 in his words "a
bee loaded with honey", with a collection of over 20,000insects, 1,200 species of
plants, drawings of 120 species offish, and about 760birdskins.
As with manyVictorianscientists, Swainson was also a member of many learned
societies, including theWernerian SocietyofEdinburgh. He was elected a fellow of
theRoyal Societyafter his return from Brazil on 14 December 1820,[3][6]and married
his first wife Mary Parkes in 1823,[4]with whom he had four sons (William John,
George Frederick, Henry Gabriel and Edwin Newcombe) and a daughter (Mary
Frederica). His wife Mary died in 1835.
Swainson remarried in 1840 to Ann Grasby, andemigratedto New Zealand in 1841.
Their daughter,Edith Stanway Swainson, marriedArthur Halcombein 1863.
[7]
Swainson was involved inproperty managementand natural history-related
publications from 1841 to 1855, andforestry-related investigations inTasmania,New
South Wales, andVictoriafrom 1851 to 1853. Swainson died at Fern Grove,Lower
Hutt, New Zealand, on 6 December 1855.
Works on natural history[edit]

Image of a colour lithograph of aMoluccan king parrotproduced by

Swainson in the first volume ofZoological Illustrations
Swainson was at times quite critical of the works of others and, later in life, others in
turn became quite critical of him.
Apart from the common and scientific names of many species, it is for the quality of
his illustrations that he is best remembered. His friendWilliam Elford Leach, head of
zoology at theBritish Museum, encouraged him to experiment withlithographyfor
his bookZoological Illustrations(182023). Swainson became the first illustrator and
naturalist to use lithography, which was a relatively cheap means of reproduction and
did not require an engraver. He began publishing many illustrated works, mostly
serially. Subscribers received and paid for fascicles, small sections of the books, as
they came out, so that the cash flow was constant and could be reinvested in the
preparation of subsequent parts. As book orders arrived, the monochrome
lithographs were hand-coloured, according to colour reference images, known as
pattern plates, which were produced by Swainson himself. It was his early adoption
of this new technology and his natural skill of illustration that in large part led to his
fame.[8]
When Leach was forced to resign from theBritish Museumdue to ill health,
Swainson applied to replace him, but the post was given toJohn George Children.
Swainson continued with his writing, the most influential of which was the second
volume ofFauna Boreali-Americana(1831), which he wrote withJohn Richardson.
This series (18291837) was the first illustrated zoological study to be funded in part
by the British government.[9]He also produced a second series ofZoological
Illustrations(183233), three volumes ofWilliam Jardine'sNaturalist's Library, and
eleven volumes ofLardner'sCabinet Cyclopedia; he had signed a contract with the
London publishersLongmanto produce fourteen illustrated volumes of 300 pages in
this series, one to be produced quarterly.[8]
Classification[edit]
In 1819William Sharp Macleayhad published his ideas of theQuinarian
systemofbiological classification, and Swainson soon became a noted and
outspoken proponent.[10]The Quinarian System fell out of favour, giving way to the
rising popularity of the geographical theory ofHugh Edwin Strickland.[10]Swainson
was overworked by Dionysius Lardner, the publisher of theCabinet
Cyclopaedia[11]and both Swainson and Macleay were derided for their support of
the Quinarian system. Both proponents left Britain; Swainson emigrated to New
Zealand and Macleay to Australia.[12]An American visiting Australasia in the 1850s
heard to his surprise that both Macleay and Swainson were living there, and
imagined that they had been exiled to theAntipodes
'for the great crime of burdening zoology with a false though much laboured theory
which has thrown so much confusion into the subject of its classification and
philosophical study'.[13][14]