William Pitcairn Swinden

A carte-de-visite portrait of a bearded sailor. A pencilled inscription verso identifies him as ‘Captain Wm. s. of Dr E. Swinden / of Wavertree / c.1878’.

Christened on 24 February 1839 at Holy Trinity Church in Wavertree [near Liverpool], William Pitcairn Swinden was the son of Dr Edward Swinden. According to the 1851 census, his father was a ‘Surgeon, General Practitioner, M.R.C.S. and Licentiate of Apothecaries Hall, London.'

At Liverpool on 16 February 1863 he received his Certificate of Competency as a Second Mate. On 1 December 1865 he qualified as a First Mate and on 5 August 1868 he became a Master.

At the time of the 1881 census, however, William was working as the Second Mate aboard the Shamrock in port at Holyhead, Anglesey. The following year he married Grace Miller on 19 January 1882 at St Mary’s in Watford but he died a few months later on 30 August 1882 at Farnham in Surrey. At the time of his death, he was an ‘Innkeeper.' He left a personal estate valued at £154.

Photographed by Thomas Marcroft of Wavertree, Lancashire.