Sir Alexander Swinton of that Ilk

http://www.swintonfamilysociety.org/

• 3 May 1633: succeeded his brother
• 5 July 1633: Knighted by Charles I at Dunfermline
• 1642: Appointed Sheriff of Berwickshire

http://www.scotweb.co.uk/info/swinton/

17th Century & Civil War

In 1640 Sir Alexander Swinton, the 22nd chief, became sheriff of Berwickshire. He died in 1652, leaving six sons and five daughters. His second son, Alexander, was appointed to the Supreme Court of Scotland in 1688, taking the title, ‘Lord Mersington’.

The Swintons supported the Royalists during the Civil War. The eldest son, John, was colonel for the regiment of Berwickshire, and at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, he was taken prisoner, and his brother, Robert, died in an attempt to carry off Oliver Cromwell’s standard.

John was later appointed by the Lord Protector to the Council of State he established to assist in ruling Scotland in 1655. His involvement with Cromwell led to his being tried for treason in 1661, and although he escaped the block, his estates were forfeited and he was imprisoned for six years. He died in 1679 and was succeeded by his son, Alexander, who later died without issue.

Alexander’s brother, Sir John, succeeded as the twenty-fifth Laird of Swinton who, after a successful career as a merchant in Holland, returned to Scotland in the wake of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 which brought William of Orange to the throne with his wife, Queen Mary.

John Swinton is the son of Robert Swinton of Swinton and Katharine Hay.2 He died in 1633, and was succeeded by his half-bro, unmarried.1

     21ST OF THAT ILK.1 Child of John Swinton Alexander Swinton, 22nd of that Ilk+2 d. 1652