Born in Brittany the second son of Rev H.J.Swale of Ingfield Hall, Settle. Entered the medical profession and settled at Tavistock.. His main interest was in the Hymenoptera but he made extensive collections of Coleoptera particularly in New Zealand where he spent three years from 1900 and later during other appointments he took in Africa, India, New Zealand, again, and Samoa. H.E.Andrewes states in his obituary in EMM., 55, 1919, pp.140-41, that Swale gave many of his Coleoptera during his lifetime (they knew each other for some sixty years) to him and to the NHM. Swale’s wife, who accompanied him on many of his field trips, gave his remaining Coleoptera and Hymenoptera to the NHM after his death in 1919. There are some ms notes by him on Hymenoptera in the NHM too. (MD 11/04)
Dates
1853 – 3 May 1919