The Founders
The Founders
Lt. Col. Iain Spencer Swinnerton, TD, DL, JP, FSG (1932-2022)
A descendant of the Adbaston Branch, Iain (IS/1) was born April 23rd 1932 to JAMES PERCY SWINNERTON (JS/4) and Lilian Spencer, and went to school at King Edward VI Grammar School, Stourbridge, before serving in REME, and then attending Sandhurst. Invalided out before completing his officers’ course, Iain was then commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a reserve, although attached to the Regular Army, rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel. In 1953, while home on leave, he was taken aside by his uncle, Frederick, at the time the Managing Director of Swinnerton & Co. Ltd., and told of the family history. Fascinated, Iain began to research his family in his spare time, a ‘hobby’ that was to become a lifelong passion. He joined the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry in the late 1960s, and shortly afterwards became the President of the Society. In 1974 he became both the founding President of the Federation of Family History Societies, and the founder of his own, the Swinnerton Family History Society. In 1958 he married Angela Sellers, and they had three children, Alastair, currently the editor of the Swinnerton Saga, Kirsty, a zoologist, and Joanna, a writer and editor.
John Walter Swinnerton, MBE, TD (1916-91)
A descendant of the Betley Branch, John (JS/10) was our main researcher in London for all the National Indexes for Births, Marriages & Deaths, Census Records, etc.. Born April 29th 1916, he was the only child of WALTER SWINNERTON (WS/34), a Director of Cash’s, the ribbon and woven name manufacturers, and Gertrude Mary Blackner. Educated at Bablake School, Coventry, and Saltley College, Birmingham, and an Economics Graduate (2nd class Hons.) of London University. He was commissioned into the Royal Signals (TA) in 1938 and served throughout the last war in France and Belgium (1940) and North Africa and Italy (1942-1946) in Regimental and Staff appointments, retiring as a Major, having been awarded the Territorial Decoration and Clasp. He was a teacher, then a headmaster, and finally an Education Adviser. In 1942 he married Patricia Mary Wise, younger daughter of a former Vicar of All Saints Church, Hoole, Chester, and had a son Michael and a daughter Meriel.
Professor Sydney Kenrick Armitstead, MA (1921-1984)
Born June 6th 1921, son of William Kenrick Armitstead and MARIA GEZINA SWINNERTON (MS/81), Ken was our main researcher of the Warks. Branch, of which he was a descendant. Educated at Felsted School and Hertford College, Oxford, he gained a BA in 1946 and MA in 1948 in Classics and Modern Languages (Hons.). He was a 1st Class Naval Interpreter in Italian, and served in the last war in the Royal Artillery (North Africa & Italy), reaching the rank of Captain, and was Mentioned in Despatches. He was Assistant Master at Repton School from 1951 to 1956, then Lecturer at Britannia Naval College, Dartmouth and Head of the Modern Languages Department from 1964, and was tutor to His Majesty King Charles III during his stay at Dartmouth when Prince of Wales. He was a member of the Society of Genealogists, and researched extensively into all his ancestral families as well as the Swinnertons.
Major The Revd Brian Thomas Swinnerton, LCP, CF (1931-2016)
Born November 8th 1931, Brian (BS/19) was a descendant of the Betley Branch, and the only son of FRANK SWINNERTON (FS/7) a Railway Engineer, and Marjorie Ann Walley. He was educated at Sandbach School, Cheshire and Crewe Technical College, and then became a member of the British Railways Staff College (1948-56) and a Permanent Way Surveyor. He did his National Service in the Royal Engineers as a Surveyor (1952-54). He took a Diploma of Education at Culham College, Oxford 1956, and was a lecturer at the Oxford College of Technology in 1958. From 1959 he was a lecturer at the Stafford College of Further Education. A Lay Reader, he became a Licentiate of the College of Preceptors, London, in 1962, and in 1967 began to study for Holy Orders. Ordained in 1969, he was, most appropriately, appointed Curate of Swynnerton, a post he held until 1971. In 1971 he was appointed Chaplain to the Mercian Volunteers Battalion (TAVR). He was the author of Swynnerton & the Swinnertons, as well as Staffordshire Castles (1969), A Short History of St. Peter’s, Norbury (1970), and The Swinnertons of Staffordshire, a thesis for the BA (Liberal Arts) State University of New York, USA (1973), together with various articles. In 1959 he married Anne Jane Cooper, elder daughter of William Cooper (Grenadier Guards), and they had two sons, William and Thomas.
