(1772 - 1800), 1st surv. s. of Henry Swinburne (1743 - 1803) of Hamsterley, Durham; Royal page in the French court 1789; capt. 82nd Ft; d. at sea.
1776 - 80 see Henry Swinburne (1743 - 1803)
1792 - 3 [London Mar. 1792] Naples (Sep. 1792 - winter 1792 - 3), Rome (Apr. 1793), Florence ( - 23 Jun.), Genoa, Turin (Jul.)
- 1797 Naples ( - Feb. - )
Henry Swinburne had been with his parents in Italy in 1776 - 80 and was later in Paris, where he became a royal page at the French court. He returned to London in March 1792, then in September, aged twenty, he returned to Naples in the care of the Abb? Campbell.1 In Naples during the winter of 1792 - 3 he met Thomas Pelham (later 2nd Earl of Chichester) and on 1 April 1793 they accompanied Lady Plymouth and Lady Webster to Benevento.2 He was with Pelham at Florence in June and they left together on the 23rd for Genoa and Turin; by 7 July they were in the Val d'Aosta.3 Swinburne apparently returned to Italy and stayed in Naples until the approach of the French armies 'rendered it prudent for Englishmen to quit Italy'.4 Emma Hamilton talked much in praise of Harry's beauty, and said he was run after by all the ladies in Naples; she lamented his refusal to marry the marchesa Moscate, which would have been 'a splendid match in point of fortune'.5 See also Edward Swinburne, with whom Henry has occasionally been confused.
1. Swinburne, Courts, 2:96, 99. 2. Holland Jnl., 1:20. 3. Ibid., 1:48, 60. 4. Swinburne, Courts, 1:xxvi. 5. Ibid., 2:261.