Record

Authorised form of name	Swinburne; Sir; James (1858 - 1958); 9th Baronet of Capheaton, Northumberland; industrial chemist and electrical engineer
Dates	1858 - 1958
Nationality	British
Place of birth	Inverness, Scotland
Date of birth	28 February 1858
Place of death	His home, Balholm Grange, Mornish Road, Branksome Park, Bournemouth, England.
Date of death	30/03/1958
Occupation	industrial chemist and electrical engineer
Research field	Electrical engineering
Activity	Education: Clifton College, Bristol, England Career: Employed in a locomotive works; apprenticed at Engineering Works on the Tyne; draughtsman with the South Shields Gas Company; joined Joseph Swan (FRS 1894), who engaged him to establish lamp factories in Antwerp and Paris. (1881); Manager to Hammond Co.'s Lamp Factory (1884); Technical Manager and Designer to Crompton and Co. (1886); established his own business at Teddington, Swinburne and Co (1889); began practising as a Consulting engineer (1894). Memberships: MICE Institution of Electrical Engineers (President 1902–3) Faraday Society (President 1909–11) Plastics Institute (President 1937-8)
Membership category	Fellow
Date of election	03/05/1906
Age at election	48
Proposer	William Ramsay
	William Crookes
	Oliver Lodge
	William Henry White
	John Wolfe Barry
	William Cawthorne Unwin
	James Alfred Ewing
	Frederick Thomas Trouton
	John Norman Collie
	Alexander Blackie William Kennedy
	William Henry Preece
	Kelvin [William Thomson]
	George Carey Foster
	Silvanus Phillips Thompson
Relationships	Parents: Lieutenant Thomas Anthony Swinburne RN and Mary Anne, daughter of Captain Edward Fraser of Gortuleg. Spouse: 1) (1886)Ellen (1863/4–1893), daughter of Robert Harrison Wilson, a doctor, of Gateshead; 2) (1898) Lilian Gilchrist (d. 1964), daughter of Sir Thomas Godfrey Carey, bailiff of Guernsey (1895–1902). Children: Three sons from his first marriage and two daughters from his second marriage. 9th Baronet
OtherInfo	Worked on the first electric bulb. Revolutionised the pastics industry.
Royal Society Obituary or Memoir	Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
Related images	Discover a selection of related images in our picture library
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Source	Sources: Bulloch's Roll Obituaries: Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 1959 vol 5 pp 253-268, plate, by F A Freeth
Virtual International Authority File	http://viaf.org/viaf/72603190
Code	NA7051

Archives associated with this Fellow

RefNo	Title	Date
IM/GA/Russell/16013	Swinburne, Sir James	nd
NLB/7/879	Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to James Swinburne, 4 Hatherly Road, Kew Gardens	19 May 1893
NLB/16/324	Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons	17 March 1898
NLB/16/10	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [James] Swinburne [Fellow of the Royal Society], 66 Victoria Street, S.W.	12 January 1898
NLB/16/392	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to J Swinburne, Honorary Editor of 'Science Abstracts', 66 Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.	26 March 1898
NLB/15/895	Copy letter from Arthur Wiliam Rucker, to James Swinburne, [Fellow of the Royal Society]	10 January 1898
NLB/16/697	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to J Swinburne, Editor of "Science Abstracts", 66 Victoria Street, S.W.	21 May 1898
NLB/17/165	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to James Swinburne, [Fellow of the Royal Society], Honorary Editor of 'Science Abstracts', 66 Victoria Street, S.W.	29 July 1898
NLB/17/424	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Shelford Bidwell, President of the Physical Society, Professor William Edward Ayrton and James Swinburne, Fellows of the Royal Society	27 October 1898
NLB/37/143	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to James Swinburne FRS	30 January 1908
NLB/32/747	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]	[19 May 1906]
NLB/34/151	Copy memo from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to James Swinburne, Fellow of the Royal Society	[December 1906]
NLB/35/518	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Messrs Harrison & Sons	8 June 1907
NLB/56/125	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [James] Swinburne Esquire, FRS	27 November 1918
NLB/56/112	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [James] Swinburne Esquire, FRS	25 November 1918
NLB/55/100	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [James] Swinburne Esq., FRS	05 December 1917
RR/24/50	Referee's report by James Swinburne, on a paper 'The high-frequency resistance of multiply-stranded insulated wire' by G W O Howe	[June 1917]
NLB/55/734	Copy letter from [Dr.] Arthur Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society; to James Swinburne Esq., FRS	14 August 1918
NLB/72/669	Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to James Swinburne Esq., FRS	21 February 1930
NLB/36/883	Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to James Swinburne, Fellow of the Royal Society	7 January 1908
EC/1906/13	Swinburne, Sir James: certificate of election to the Royal Society
RR/24/40	Referee's report by James Swinburne, on a paper 'Curved beams' by James J Guest	[January 1918]
ACS/1/1/380	Letter from James Swinburne, 82 Victoria Street, London, S.W., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton	13 February 1912
MC/27/337	Letter from [James] Swinburne, 82 Victoria Street, London, S.W, to the [Royal Society]	29 July 1912
ACS/1/1/379	Letter from James Swinburne, 41 Palace Court, W., to [Alan Archibald Campbell] Swinton	c. 1906

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