John Henry Herbert McSwiney, Rev., M.A.

Reverend J.H.H. McSwiney, M.A. - known as Herbert.

Birth Date 25 December 1826.

• Father's Name DANIEL McSwiney, Mother's Name Sarah McSwiney - living at Cannon Place, Brighton.
• Although his father was born near Cork, Ireland and was of the Roman Catholic faith, Herbert was christened in the Anglican "Church of England" church of his mother's family:

Baptism Date 18 April 1827 John Henry Herbert McSwiney

St. Nicholas Church, Brighton, Sussex -

(Record Source: Parish Baptisms: St. Nicholas, Brighton, Sussex - Stored at the East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, Sussex)

Both parents died* two years apart when he was very young - his mother in 1832 (when he around 6 years old) and his father (when he was around 8 years old) before September 1834. (Many deaths registered at that time were from smallpox, but typhus or something else could also have been the cause.)

13 Sep 1834 His parents' home at 7 Sussex Square, Brighton was leased for £200 and £63 11s on agreed dates; William Allfree and John Allfree on behalf of (nephew) John Henry (Herbert) McSwiney in his minority. (Source: McSwiney Collection, East Sussex Record Office, Lewes, Sussex)

After their parents' deaths, his sister went to live with John and Angelina Allfree in Brighton and Herbert, at some point, was sent to live with another uncle, Thomas Allfree in Tunbridge Wells, where he attended Thomas' prep school for young gentlemen (ages 8-13) - Romanoff House - later Rose Hill School. (Thomas had at one point been a tutor to the Russian royal family - the Romanoffs.)

June 1837 - 10 year old Herbert McSwiney

"Young Gentlemen attending the Classical and Mathematical 'Romanoff House', Tonbridge Wells, were examined on Friday before a considerable number of the inhabitants of the place and its vicinity. The manner in which the pupils acquited themselves was creditable, and all present expressed their great satisfaction at the distinguished success with which the exertions of the Rector and Conductors of the Establishment had been rewarded. After the examinations prizes were adjudged: Latin AND French - Herbert McSwiney, Brighton."
[Source: The Kentish Gazette, Canterbury Tue 27 Jun 1837]

1841 Census for Tonbridge Wells, Kent - Romanoff House* Thomas Allfree 45 Schoolmaster Helen Allfree 50 George Allfree 15 Helen Allfree 15 Herbert Macswiney (sp) 14 Pupil (and nephew)

"The prospect from the Common is very extensive, and it commands a fine panoramic view of the town; a striking object in the foreground of which is *Romanoff House, a modern building in the gothic style of architecture. It is occupied by Mr. T. R. Allfree, who has established a classical school here for the education of young gentlemen. The house makes a conspicuous and picturesque object from the London road and many parts of the common." (Source: 1840 "New Guide for Tunbridge Wells" by John Colbran and edited by James Phippen - p. 143)

Coincidentally, Rose Hill School was attended in the late 1890s by Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Scouting movement, and in 1920s by Herbert's gr-granddaughter's husband, Lewen B.O. Tugwell.

1848 The release of the lease (in the matter of the administration of the estate of the late Daniel McSwiney'- his parents home at 7 Sussex Square, Brighton) by John Henry Herbert McSwiney to his uncles William Allfree and John Allfree (Source: East Sussex Records Office - Accession # 10149 - McSwiney family papers 1800-1944)

Herbert earned a MA degree from Pembroke College, Cambridge University. Ordained in Church of England.

1850, 10 November Norwich Cathedral, Norwich, Norfolk- Herbert was ordained a Deacon. [His certificate of ordination as a deacon was deposited with the East Sussex Record Office. ESRO reference: ACC 10149/4

1850 Minister of Yarmouth parish - this is where he met his future wife, Emily Hills (daughter of Royal Navy (retired) Rear-Admiral George Hills and Diana, nee Hammersley, and sister of George Hills, Minister at Yarmouth, who later became the first Bishop of Western Canada)

John Henry McSwiney’s certificate of ordination as a priest can be found at: ACC10149/1/5 · East Sussex Record Office · 3 Nov 1851

1851 UK Census for Yarmouth

J.H.H. McSwiney - 24 years old - Assistant Curate at Yarmouth, born Brighton, Sussex

1851, April 29 - 25 year old J.H. Herbert McSwiney Married (1) Emily Sarah Hills , who was five years his senior, at St. Nicholas Church in Yarmouth, Norfolk. Father's Name DANIEL McSwiney (deceased), Mother's Name Emily Sarah McSwiney (deceased). [Source Citation: St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, Norfolk, England collection 1847-1851 - also "The Annual Register - or a view of the History and Politics for the year 1851 "]

1852, Jan 17 George Herbert Bent McSwiney was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. (Source: FreeBMD, England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006), www.ancestry.com, Database online Record for George Herbert Bent McSwiney). Herbert's friend from Pembroke College, Oxford (who also become a minister at St. Nicholas' Church in Great Yarmouth in 1852-53) was the Rev. Robert Paul Bent - thus it is presumed he gave his first son a middle name of 'Bent'. (Source for Rev R.P. Bent is Crockford's Clerical Directory for 1865).

Moved to Cronstadt - the Port of St. Petersburg, Russia

Less than a month later Herbert was at a new post administering to the British population in St. Petersburg and living at the English Parsonage, Cronstadt. No doubt, in accepting the Cronstadt, Russia, appointment, Herbert was influenced by his uncle Thomas Allfree, with whom he lived after his parents' deaths, : (Thomas Allfree had been the English Tutor to the Romanov Czar Alexander I and later established "The Romanov School" in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England)

[Historical Note "St. Petersburg and London in the years 1852-64 (1887) Volume: 1 Reminiscences of Count Charles Frederick Vitzthum von Eckstaedt" Subject: Crimean war, 1853-1856. [from old catalog] Publisher: London, Longmans, Green & co. Year: 1887. ]

The British population (known as the Russia Factory) had, for two centuries, operated in and around St. Petersburg - comprised of 29 British houses or merchants at the turn of the eighteenth century, with all but 3 engaged in exporting Russian goods to Britain. 17 of these British merchants were predominately or exclusively importers (to Russia). The wealthiest firms had head offices in the City of London.

It was during this period (1852) that Herbert was appointed as Anglican Chaplain at Cronstadt, the port of St. Petersburg, on the shores of the Gulf of Finland. St. Petersburg was a European City, built on neo-classical lines. The English Church was part of the large English community in St. Petersburg - situated on the English Embankment* of the Neva River, near the British Embassy and the diplomats and wealthiest of the English merchants' abodes - and near the Russian Czar's winter palace, The Hermitage. British Merchant Seamen as well as the St. Petersburg community were attended to by Herbert.

• The English Embankment was built between 1763 and 1767. It is named after the former English (British) Embassy and the English church that was located at No48, the building is now occupied by the Travel and Sightseeing Bureau.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Embankment) The English church was built in 1814 and 1815 to a design by Giacomo Quarenghi, it is preserved as architectural landmark. The interior of the English church is highlighted with marble, historic paintings, and boasts a large pipe organ - the only English organ existing in Russia.

25 February 1854 - Norfolk Chronicle - Norwich, Norfolk, England

"very grand funeral service, which I saw in St. Petersburg, was that of a general officer: 

I was walking past the church with Mr. Mc'Swiney, where we saw the regiment in mourning, drawn up in line outside the church, at the door of which stood some mules, while the ...."

1855 Feb 19, Nicholas I Pavlovich (58), tsar of Russia died. Alexander II became tsar of Russia.

1856 Mar 30, Russia signed Peace of Paris ending the Crimean War.

1856 Apr 29, A peace treaty between England and Russia was signed.]

Herbert McSwiney's first entrance to the Cronstadt Baptism Register was on February 3 1852 and the last entry was on October 28 1878 - a 26 year period. There were interludes in England on vacation and in English posts (see below).

1853 A son, John William, was born in Cronstadt, Russia.

1856 Herbert was back again in Yarmouth and Curate/Minister of St. Peter's Church.

A Norfolk News newspaper account states his wife delivered a daughter [Edith Mabel] on 15 February 1856 at #11 Kimberley Terrace, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. States that Herbert was 'late of Cronstadt'.

1856 May. Herbert, Minister of St. Peter's Church, was presented with a silver salver before his departure for Cronstadt. [Source:"Chronological Retrospect, From A.D. 46 to 1877" By William Finch-Crisp: 1800 - 1877]

1856 Register of Passport Applications:

• Revd John H H McSwiney
• Application year 1856
• Passport No: 34846

[. Source: FindMyPast.com Record set Index to Register of Passport Applications 1851-1903 Category Immigration & Travel]

Two months later he returned to his post at St. Petersburg, as per the following:

Norfolk News 20 May 1856

"Testimonial to the Rev. J.H. McSwiney – On the 12th inst. A silver salver was presented to the Rev. J.H.H. Mcswiney, M.A., late one of the curates of this parish, by many of his admiring friends, as a mark of their esteem. Since then the Rev.gentleman has sailed for Cronstadt, to undertake there the duties of Chaplain to a company (meaning the British Factory)."

English Merchant Seamen in Russia

1857 Feb 5 / 11 No current hospital for Seamen in Cronstadt. Herbert proposed a permanent committee be formed to devise means of ameliorating the (filthy, disease-ridden) condition of the lodging house being used as a hospital at Cronstadt. "The gravely ill were dependent on fellow patients - the (ship's) masters rarely being present except at some operation or doctor's rounds."

1857 Feb 13 A public meeting was held at the schoolroom in Cronstadt for the purpose of adopting the means to obtain the establishment of a hospital in Cronstadt for suffering British seamen. Herbert was appointed Secretary of a committee appointed to carry out the objects of the meeting: an Appeal to the British - to be circulated in Great Britain and a copy in vellum to be forwarded to the Queen. Cordial thanks were presented to Herbert for his "unwearied exertions on behalf of the British seamen."

[The above announcements to The Times (of London) and shared on page 2, North and South Shields Gazette, March 19 1857.]

1860 Herbert was appointed to two parishes at this time:

• March 1860: The Rev. John Henry Herbert McSwiney, B.A., Pembroke College, Oxford, Appointed to St. John the Evangelist "perpetual curacy", Lowestoft, Suffolk. Value 100 British Pounds. Patrons, The Trustees.  (Source: Bucks Herald, 24 March 1860)
• March 1860 Chaplaincies - To the Russian Company, Cronstadt; Rev. J.H.H. McSwiney, prom[otion]. (Sources: Nottinghamshire Guardian, Tuesday, March 22 1860 - Ecclesiastical and Collegiate Preferments and Appointments - Also Lincolnshire Chronicle - Friday 23 March 1860)

1861 Czar Alexander ended serfdom in Russia, with the Decree of Emancipation.

On 19/11/1865 the Hull cargo steamer LINCOLNSHIRE was lost in a gale near St. Petersburg, Russia. Herbert contributed to a fund for the 11 widows and 27 children who were left destitute.

1872/3

• "The Bishop of London has licensed the following gentlemen to foreign chaplaincies:....The Rev. John Henry Herbert McSwiney, to the chaplaincy of the Russia Company at Cronstadt." [Pall Mall Gazette, page 9, December 13, 1872) (This came about after a complaint by the British Ambassador in St. Petersburg that the 'appointment' was not 'licensed', and therefore not legitimate.)
• Appointment: Chaplain at Cronstadt, Russia. [1873, January 14 - Page 104, Ecclesiastical Gazette (or "Monthly Register of the Affairs of the ...]

Title: A Sermon delivered on the re-opening of the Russia Company's church at Cronstadt ... 1876, etc.

* British Library:

• Author: John Henry Herbert MACSWINEY
• Publication Details: [1876]
• Identifier: System number 002334205
• Physical Description: 8 p. ; 8º.
• Shelfmark(s): General Reference Collection 4481.c.78.
• UIN: BLL01002334205

Microfilm Number 0576998 of Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City. Church Records, 1807-1893. Church of England in Russia. Anglican Chaplaincy (Cronstadt) - H. McSwiney registers Baptisms, Marriages and Burials in his own writing in the Cronstadt Register Books.

International Genealogical Index - Continental Europe - lists baptism and burial records (104,105 and 108) attributable to the children of Emily Sarah and John Herbert McSwiney for Cronstadt]:

• 01 MAR 1853 John William Augustus Mc Swiney - International Genealogical Index / CE
• Gender: Male Christening: Cronstadt, , Russia, Ussr
• 1858 Mar 13 Edward Frederick Henry Mc Swiney - International Genealogical Index / CE
• Gender: Male Christening: Kronstadt, Russia, Ussr (This is Fred McSwiney)
• 20 OCT 1859 Arthur Cattley Mc Swiney - International Genealogical Index / CE
• Gender: Male Christening: Cronstadt, , Russia, Ussr
• 20 MAY 1861 William Daniel Mc Swiney - International Genealogical Index / CE
• Gender: Male Christening: Kronstadt, Russia, Ussr (A handwritten 'family' note states Daniel was a 4th son (this would have been William Daniel McSwiney). However, this would be incorrect - he would be the fifth son, since George Herbert Dennis McSwiney was born 17 January 1852 in Great Yarmouth, England)
• 24 SEP 1862 Adele Isabella Mc Swiney - International Genealogical Index / CE
• Gender: Female Christening: Cronstadt, , Russia, Ussr

3 year old daughter dies: '16 April 1866 Burial of Adele Isabella McSwiney: in Cronstadt, 3 years, 8 months, as recorded in her father's writing in the Registry of Burials, Church of the Russia Company, on the Island of Cronstadt (page 24). The Pall Mall Gazette (London) records her death as 25 April 1866.

All of his sons, born in Yarmouth and Cronstadt, were educated at public schools in England . They spoke fluent Russian.

Last surviving daughter dies: 1879, January 15 - Edith Mabel, died in Bournemouth, Dorest - in her 23rd year. [Newspaper announcement states Herbert was in Cronstadt, Russia]

Aldershot Military Gazette 25 September 1880

Choir Festival at All saints church, Aldershot (Home of the British Army), Hampshire, UK. Herbert attended along with many other Chaplains. The newspaper article states he was of the "First Brigade" - also that he was "Acting Chaplain" to the Forces at Aldershot - and preached a sermon based on Psalm 150.

1881 England Census: Living in Penn Vicarage with wife, Emily, and one servant .

• Herbert is listed as 54, being "Curate in Charge, Penn".

Suffered from gout and rheumatism

[which his cousin, Denis, Dean of Cork said was a 'family failing']

1885_June Herbert and wife Emily (with son WIlliam D. McSwiney and Miss Knaggs (future daughter-in-law and fiancee of William's brother, Fred) and the Balfour Family) were vacationing at No.5 Westbourne Terrace, Southsea, Sussex. (Source: Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle June 9 1885)

1886 Rector at St. Helen's Church, Barnoldby-le-Beck in Lincolnshire for 13 years.

(Source: Source: Kelly's Directory 1889)
"Barnoldby-le-Beck is a village and a (St. Helen's Church) parish 3 miles north-west of Holton-le-Clay station, on the East Lincolnshire branch of the Great Northern Railway, and 5 south-south-west of Grimsby. The church of St Helen's register dates from the year 1572. The living is a rectory, net yearly value, from 225 acres of glebe, £300, with residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held since 1886 by the Rev John Henry Herbert McSwiney MAof Pembroke College, Oxford."

10 July 1886. Officiated at the wedding of F. Campbell, his son Fred's 'brother officer and best chum' in the 'Fighting Fortieth" in India. FC referred to Herbert as 'my dear, most respected friend'.

1888-89 Herbert served as the Secretary and Commissary for the Missions of the Church of England in British Columbia (Bankers were Messrs. Cox & Co., the Treasurer A.C. Hammersley, Esq. (a relative of his wife) of 16 Charing Cross, S.W. London. [Source: The Charities Register and Digest 1890).

1893, April - Appointed Co-Commissary in England (with Rev. J. Allen Bell) to the Bishop of British Columbia, George Hills - his brother-in-law. (Definition of Commissary is a Deputy - a person to whom a special duty is given by a higher authority)

1897 (last quarter) after forty-eight years of marriage, Herbert's wife Emily died - source BMD index. She was buried at Belchamp Walter, Essex, near her childhood home in Ashen.

Approximately six months later Herbert married his second wife, Emma Maude Godden - whose father was the same age as Herbert.

Monday, June 27 1898 Marriage Settlement of the Revd John Henry McSwiney and Emma Maude Godden [Source: Paper at ACC10149/1/6 · East Sussex Record Office · 27 Jun 1898]

Tuesday, June 28, 1898* They married at Sutton, Sussex, (Source: "Visitation of England and Wales, Vol. 3, page 54" *States 1899 in error ) - The marriage was registered 1898 in Petworth, Sussex ( see Ancestry.com).

Herbert created a new will, dated 11 September 1898.

Nearly eight months later Herbert died, aged 73, Friday 24 February 1899 and was buried in St. Helen's cemetery, Barnoldby-le-Beck on Monday, 27 February 1899, where he was Rector for 13 years. His elegant tombstone can be viewed today.

1899, 6 April - The Will was proved in the Principal Registry by Emma Maude McSwiney, the sole Executrix. (?none of his three sons were named)

1899, April 11 - The contents of The Rectory were Auctioned - including personal items such as a pianoforte, timepieces, his sermons and theological works. The auctioneers produced a Catalogue of Sale and a Marquee for the occasion. His Solicitors were Bull & Bull of The Strand, London, W.C.

After he passed away, his Irish cousin Denis McSwiney, Dean of Cork, paid a moving tribute to Herbert in a letter to his son E.Fred.H. Mcswiney: "In my long life no shock I ever got so overpowered me." "in the few letters to me I distinctly saw a 'perfect man' - both in his nature and in the cultivation of it".

Author Turtle Bunbury's "Whishaw Family History" mentions........

"McSwiney, on the other hand, was goodhearted, true to the core, wholly incapable of meanness or dishonourable conduct, and these were the qualities which the sign of a gentleman was deemed to carry in local usage at least."

[. See also - March 3, 1899 The Church Weekly from London, · Page 15 . Publication: The Church Weekly i Location: London, EnglandIssue Date: Friday, March 3, 1899Page: Page 15]

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• http://www.turtlebunbury.com/history/history_family/hist_family_whi...:

In a footnote on page 267 "McSwiney was a popular member of the Petersburg community. Though of Irish extraction, he was regarded as an English gentleman, his sons went to a good Public School in England and he was often mentioned in the community records in affectionate and respectful terms."

"McSwiney complained in a letter to the Russia Company about his income - that "my predecessors could keep carriage and horses, I cannot make the place pay my expenses, though I have neither horse nor carriage".

"Once Jim's father invited Tsar Alexander* to a dinner party in Russia at which a very witty and amusing Irishman named McSwiney (the Cronstadt Chaplain) was also present. William was sure it would be "a case of 'pull devil, pull baker' as to which of the Reverend Gentlemen could tell the best yarn or sing the best song. As it turned out the evening was a complete failure for the two padres remained silent and merely glowered at each other!"

( Tsar Alexander II of Russia In 1867 sold Alaska to the United States for $7 million)

• Within above website is a pdf academic dissertation on English merchants in Imperial St. Petersburg, with many references to Rev. Herbert McSwiney. A couple of excerpts:

"Some of the Anglican Chaplains at Petersburg and Cronstadt during the nineteenth century, such as Law and McSwiney, espoused the merchant community's creeds and became long-term, supported and supportive members of the community. ............ McSwiney was supported against local diplomatic attack, as described in CHAPTER TEN. THEORY IN PRAXIS. CASE STUDY A:

THE RULING VALUES ARE THE VALUES OF THE DOMINANT.

................................ in 1857, with an appeal to the sympathies and liberality of the British Public for donations towards a suitable edifice properly fitted for Hospital purposes to be erected at Cronstadt for the care of the feverwracked and suffering English merchant seamen ......... This touching plea, which stemmed from the Revd. McSwiney (the Cronstadt Chaplain who preceded Arthur Riddle), and the British Consul-General, Charles Eastland de Michele, was forwarded to the Russia Company 12.2.1857 and also printed in The Times 12.3.1857, with the hope that it would tap into the same philanthropic vein that had brought assistance to the British soldiers of the Crimean war at Scutari and Smyrna."

"McSwiney, on the other hand, was goodhearted, true to the core, wholly incapable of meanness or dishonourable conduct, and these were the qualities which the sign of a gentleman was deemed to carry in local usage at least."

Source: Turtle Bunbury's FAMILY HISTORY The Whishaws: From Rudheath to Russia.  J. Whishaw 1992, p. 171:

 "Despite the animosity between England and Russia in the Crimea, the Emperor [Czar] Nicholas took the English in St. Petersburg under his protection and indeed he frequently walked the quays of St. Petersburg.. (his Winter Palace - the Hermitage - was nearby)......... England had effectively monopolized trade with Russia from the time of Ivan the Terrible and Queen Elizabeth through to the Crimean War." and ""The English colony (especially those in society) was a large one, and one could dine out practically every evening without meeting the same people twice. No English people living out of their own country could have lived happier or more jolly lives than we did...It was a bright and comparatively care-free life - visitors from the old country always carried away with them happy and perhaps somewhat envious recollections"