Record

Authorised form of nameSwan; Sir; Joseph Wilson (1828 - 1914); chemist and inventor
Dates1828 - 1914
NationalityBritish
Place of birthPallion Hall, near Sunderland, Durham, England
Date of birth31 October 1828
Place of deathOverhill, Warlingham, Surrey, England
Date of death27/05/1914
OccupationPhysicist, chemist and inventor
Research fieldchemist and inventor
ActivityEducation:
MA ('honoris causa') Durham
Career:
Apprenticed to Hudson and Osbaldiston , Sunderland druggists (1842); joined John Mawson in his chemist and druggist business (1846); became partner in the business (1864); took over management of the business on Mawson’s death (1867); received a patent for the invention of "improvements in Sprengel pumps” (1877); received a British patent for his own device a year before Thomas Edison, reporting success to the Newcastle Chemical Society (1878); started his own company, Swan Electric Light Co, and began commercial production (1881); his first company was superseded by a larger company, Swan United Electric Light Co (1882); sold his U.S. patent rights to the Brush Electric Company (1882); established The Edison and Swan United Electric Light Co (1883).
Honours:
Kt 1904
Memberships:
MIEE; FCS; FIC
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election07/06/1894
Age at election66
ProposerJohn Hall Gladstone
Alexander Moncrieff
James Henry Cotterill
James Joseph Sylvester
Shelford Bidwell
David Edward Hughes
John Hopkinson
Robert S Ball
George Forbes
William Cawthorne Unwin
William Crookes
William de Wiveleslie Abney
Andrew Ainslie Common
Edward Hull
RSActivityMedals and prizes:
Hughes Medal 1904
RelationshipsParents: John Swan (b. 1794/5) and Isabella, née Cameron.
Spouse: 1) Frances (1829/30–1868), school teacher, daughter of a Liverpool merchant, William White (1862) 2) Hannah White, his deceased wife's sister (1871)
Children: Three children from his first marriage, and five children from his second marriage.
OtherInfoCredited, along with Thomas Edison, with the invention of the electic lamp (light bulb).
Developed and supplied the first incandescent lights for the illumination of homes and public buildings, notably the Savoy Theatre, London, in 1881.
Invented the dry (photographic) plate.
Developed the bromide photographic paper.
Related imagesDiscover a selection of related images in our picture library
Image

Swan J W, IM Maull 004469.jpg

SourceSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1919-1920 vol 96 pp ix-xiv signed by W G
CodeNA5291
Archives associated with this Fellow
RefNoTitleDate
IM/Maull/004469Swan, Sir Joseph Wilsonnd
MS/377/1/133Letter from Joseph Wilson Swan, 58 Holland Park, London, to [William Fletcher] Barrett27 March 1906
MS/377/1/132Letter from Joseph Wilson Swan, Paris, to [William Fletcher] Barrett19 October 1881
IM/Maull/004468Swan, Sir Joseph Wilsonnd
NLB/10/946Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, Lauriston Bromley, Kent12 March 1894
NLB/11/179Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs Harrison & Sons[May 1895]
NLB/11/139Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society29 April 1895
NLB/11/123Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, Lauriston, Bromley, Kent25 April 1895
NLB/9/590Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, Lauriston, Bromley, Kent11 June 1894
NLB/9/670Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society26 June 1894
NLB/29/793Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society12 December 1904
NLB/13/795Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs Harrison & Sons27 November 1896
NLB/14/225Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society25 January 1897
NLB/14/872Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Richard Tetley Glazebrook, [Fellow of the Royal Society]31 May 1897
NLB/15/191Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society12 July 1897
NLB/15/301Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, 58 Holland Park, W.30 July 1897
NLB/23/1/7Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, Twyford House, Almouth, Northumberland6 August 1901
NLB/15/362Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, 58 Holland Park, W. 23 August 1897
NLB/19/432Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society30 September 1899
NLB/24/263Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society15 April 1902
NLB/21/679Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society, 58 Holland Park, W.8 January 1901
NLB/23/1/69Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society9 September 1901
NLB/23/2/558Copy letter from Archibald Geikie, to Dr Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society9 November 1904
NLB/30/361Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society13 March 1905
NLB/29/737Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society4 December 1904
NLB/29/781Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society9 December 1904
NLB/37/541Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir J [Joseph] W [Wilson] Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society3 April 1908
NLB/39/13Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir Joseph [Wilson] Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society13 November 1908
NLB/38/808Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society9 November 1908
NLB/40/33Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir J [Joseph] W [Wilson] Swan FRS, 1 Essex Court, Temple. EC25 March 1909
NLB/41/486Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society20 December 1909
NLB/43/344Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society14 December 1910
NLB/44/305Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Sir Joseph [Wilson] Swan FRS 12 June 1911
NLB/46/359Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Sir Joseph Swan, Fellow of the Royal Society13 July 1912
NLB/57/180Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Dr Garnett8 August 1919
MS/928/6/2/4Letter from Joseph Wilson Swan, Bromley, to Charles Vernon Boys15 April 1891
NLB/71/703Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Kenneth Swan, Esq., W119 October 1928
MOB/069Electric bulbs by Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Ltdlate 19th century
MOB/068Electric lamp by Joseph Wilson Swanc.1877
EC/1894/20Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson: certificate of election to the Royal Society
NLB/10/134Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Messrs W F Dennis & Company, 11 Billiter Street, E.C.5 October 1894
RR/13/274Letter from Silvanus Phillips Thompson, on a paper 'Stress and other effects produced in resin and in a viscid compound of resin and oil by electrification' by Joseph Wilson Swan to Robert Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society29 May 1897
NLB/14/791Copy letter from Arthur William Rucker, to Richard Tetley Glazebrook, [Fellow of the Royal Society]18 May 1897
ACS/1/3/5/31Letter from [Percy Fitzpatrick] Rowell, Secretary, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, Victoria Embankment, London, W. C. 2., to [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton, F. R. S., 40 Chester Square, S. W. 1.15 March 1929
AP/26/17Unpublished paper, 'Physiological inferences derived from human and comparative anatomy respecting the origins of the nerves; the cerebellum and the striated bodies' by Joseph Wilson Swan8 April 1843
PP/24/6Paper, 'Measurements of the absolute specific resistance of pure electrolytic copper' by Joseph Wilson Swan and J Rhodin1894
RR/1/19Referee's report by Joseph Wilson Swan, on a paper 'On the nerves of the uterus' by Thomas Snow Beck15 August 1845
RR/13/275Referee's report by Silvanus Phillips Thompson, on a paper 'Stress and other effects produced in resin and in a viscid compound of resin and oil by electrification' by Joseph Wilson Swan29 May 1897
PP/24/6/1Manuscript, 'Measurements of the absolute specific resistance of pure electrolytic copper' by Joseph Wilson Swan and J Rhodin1894
PP/24/5/1Manuscript, 'On some voltaic combinations with a fused electrolyte and a gaseous depolariser' by Joseph Wilson Swan1894
PP/24/5Paper, 'On some voltaic combinations with a fused electrolyte and a gaseous depolariser' by Joseph Wilson Swan1894
PP/24/5/2Diagrams, experimental equipment by Joseph Wilson Swan1894
PP/24/6/2Diagrams, experimental equipment and results by Joseph Wilson Swan and J Rhodin1894
MC/20/413Letter from Joseph Wilson Swan, 58 Holland Park, London, to [Robert William Frederick] Harrison13 July 1904
ACS/1/1/376Letter from [Joseph Wilson] Swan, 58 Holland Park, W., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton, 66 Victoria Street, S. W.10 November 1904
ACS/1/1/375Letter from [Joseph Wilson] Swan, Bryn-y-Gwin, Nr Dolgelly, N. Wales., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton19 September 1899
HS/17/251Letter, from Joseph Wilson Swan to Sir John Herschel, dated at Newcastle-upon-Tyne10 July 1867
ACS/1/1/374Letter from [Joseph Wilson] Swan, 58 Holland Park, W., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton31 May 1897
MC/20Volume 20 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1905
ACS/1/1/377Letter from [Joseph Wilson] Swan, Overhill, Warlingham, Surrey, to Mr [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton11 February 1912
ACS/1/3/5/16Letter from [Lieutenant-Colonel Kenelm] Edgcumbe, Colindale Works, Hendon, London, N. W. 9., to [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton, [Esquire]., 40 Chester Square, S. W. 1.11 December 1928
ACS/1/1/378Letter from [Joseph Wilson] Swan, Overhill, Warlingham, Surrey, to Mr [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton15 February 1912
ACS/1/3/5/22Letter from [Percy Fitzpatrick] Rowell, Secretary, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, Victoria Embankment, London, W. C. 2., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton, F. R. S., 40 Chester Square, S. W. 1.13 February 1929
ACS/1/3/5/25Letter from [Percy Fitzpatrick] Rowell, Secretary, The Institution of Electrical Engineers, Savoy Place, Victoria Embankment, London, W. C. 2., to [Alan Archibald] Campbell Swinton, F. R. S., 40 Chester Square, S. W. 1.18 February 1929
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