Harold William Swithinbank

Commander Harold William Swithinbank FRS FRSE FRGS FSA DL (1858–1928) was a British veterinarian who served in both the army and navy. He was Governor of the Royal Agricultural Society and Vice President of the Royal Veterinary College.

Life
He was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 7 March 1858 the second son of George Edwin Swithinbank FSA LLD (b.1833) and his wife Constantia Anne Briggs.

He trained as a veterinarian but had a largely military career beginning as a Lieutenant in the 11th Hussars, then as a Captain in the Middlesex Yeomanry (Cavalry section).

He served as Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire and in 1891 was High Sheriff. He lived most of his later life at Denham Court in Denham, Buckinghamshire and was later Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire.

In 1905 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Sir German Sims Woodhead, George Newman, Diarmid Noel Paton, and Daniel John Cunningham.

In the First World War he served as a Commander in the Royal Navy Reserve.

He died at sea on 9 February 1928 and was buried at sea.

Family
In 1883, in Camberwell, he married Amy Eno, daughter of James Crossley Eno of Dulwich (famed for Eno's Liver Salts). In 1927 H W Swithinbank is described as a "former chairman" of "Eno's".

They had one son, Crossley Swithinbank, and two daughters, Enid and Isobel. Isobel married Sir Stafford Cripps, becoming Dame Isobel Cripps and was independently famous.

Publications

 * British Sea Fish (1900)
 * Bacteriology of Milk