Talk:William John Swainson

Accuracy dispute
This http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1S29 says he was born in Lancaster, not London. Anyway, if true need to link Lancaster Royal Grammar School. Dunc|&#9786; 11:30, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

That is a different William Swainson. Perhaps the person who added the photo can check that it is the WS the article is about, I suspect not. Smallweed 10:29, 9 May 2005 (UTC)


 * Yes this was a different William Swainson, who also emigrated to NZ in 1841 (the same year as the other William Swainson), but was of a legal background. Note difference in birthdates. W Swainson the lawyer also wrote books on NZ Judge Nutmeg 04:28, 23 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I have created a separate page William Swainson (lawyer) which now separates the two. Someone, if they have the energy, could create a disambiguation page, but this seems not to be necessary here, since 99% of all the links to the name William Swainson were to this one (the naturalist), so it seems better to let them go through. To move this page to William Swainson (naturalist) and then fix all the links seems a lot of work, and not fixing all the links just means people have to click another link. I added a short paragraph on confusions between the two Williams (confused for identical names and identical arrival in NZ in 1841) and also Isaac Swainson who is sometimes confused with him over botanical matters.Judge Nutmeg 19:14, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Heaven's mirror
Is there a source available for the reference to Swainson's "heaven's mirror" (i.e. shaving the middle portion of his head)? He was eccentric, so it wouldn't be much of a surprise, but I have not come across this particular story in any of the literature. Thanks. 74.8.91.154 03:33, 24 January 2007 (UTC)cs

I've removed the heaven's mirror stuff as it was added by a serial vandal Smallweed 15:01, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Who died?
His first wife was called Mary and his daughter was called Mary. It then says that Mary died. Can someone clarify which Mary it was? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.69.82.82 (talk) 08:59, 8 October 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on William John Swainson. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080626165714/http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjb/1980/45.pdf to http://www.rsnz.org/publish/nzjb/1980/45.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090309153600/http://www.nzetc.org:80/projects/golder/GolNZS/poemGolNZS016.html to http://www.nzetc.org/projects/golder/GolNZS/poemGolNZS016.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 15:25, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

Member of the Linnean Society?
How can he have been a member of the Linnean Society in 1815? "Though his father was a founding member of the Linnean Society, Swainson himself was not a member of the society and had to apply for access to the shel and insect collections, which he was granted in 1820?" See: Janice Neri, Tara Nummedal, John V. Calhoun, John Abbot and William Swainson: Art, Science, and Commerce in Nineteenth-Century Natural History Illustration, University of Alabama Press, 2019, isbn 20199780817320133, page 10. --Flamenc (talk) 09:22, 3 September 2019 (UTC)