John Swinton (British Army officer)

Major-General Sir John Swinton of Kimmerghame, KCVO, OBE, DL (born 21 April 1925) was Major-General Commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District.

Family and military background
Swinton is the son of Brigadier Alan Henry Campbell Swinton of Kimmerghame, MC (born 15 March 1896)  and wife, Mariora Beatrice Evelyn Rochfort Alers-Hankey (born 1900). His paternal grandfather was Scottish policitian and officer-of-arms George Swinton. The Swinton family is an ancient Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the High Middle Ages.

Military career
Swinton was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1944: he was twice wounded at the end of World War II. He also served in Malaya during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation and was mentioned in despatches. He was promoted to Major-General and made Major-General Commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District in 1976. He retired in 1979.

In 1980, he became a Deputy Lieutenant for Berwickshire: he went on to be Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire from 1989 to 2000 and escorted the Stone of Scone back to Scotland in 1996.

Family
He married on 26 August 1954 Australian Judith Balfour Killen; they have three sons - James Christopher Swinton, Alexander Harold Swinton (who married in 1987 Emma Louise Carbutt, born in 1961 a daughter of Francis Carbutt and Sally Fenella Harris) and Lt. Col. William Henry Swinton - and one daughter - the actress Tilda Swinton. (see Clan Swinton).

He lives at Kimmerghame House in Duns in Berwickshire.