THE SWIRE FAMILY

 

The family name of Swire is best known for its association with John Swire and Sons Limited, the parent company of a diversified international conglomerate with major assets in Australia, USA, east and west Africa, Hong Kong and mainland China. Business activities are largely held through the publicly listed Swire Pacific Ltd., the largest shareholder of Swire Properties and Cathay Pacific. The company was founded by a John Swire (1793-1847), a Liverpool merchant who was born in Halifax and was a descendant of the Swire family of Cononley in Yorkshire.

 

There is evidence to suggest that whatever was built as a replacement Scale House in the late 17th or early 18th century (see separate notes about the house on this website) was first occupied by a member of the Swire family (even though the Watkinson family also appear to be associated with or indeed occupying the house doing parts of the 17th century).

 

The Swire (or Swyer) family seem to have been tenant farmers in the parish of Cononley who, in the 17th century, bought land from the third Earl of Cumberland.* A Roger Swire is recorded as a land owner in Cononley in about 1627. Thereafter, the family built up their land holdings, first in Cononley and then elsewhere in Yorkshire. Scale House is noted in its listing description as having been built in the late 17th or early 18th century, “probably for the Swire family”.

 

Occupation of Scale House by a Swire family member seems to be confirmed by an entry on the website of bookowners.online, citing it’s source as “Burke, J., A genealogical and heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, 1835”. (The entry, apparently based on page 342 of Volume II of the J. Burke History, states that a Samuel Swire, 1680 - 1729, a son of Samuel Swire (or Swyer) of Cononley, lived at Scale House and married an Eleanor Jackman.

 

There are no references to the Swires in most of the records relating to Rylston which we have accessed (details of which are given elsewhere in this website, mainly the documents section), such as the poll tax returns of the 14th century, the Loan Book of 1522, the 16th century Lay Subsidies list, the Tithe Award of 1839, electoral rolls or registers, or Census records.

 

However, this website does record an Indenture and Agreement of 1693 under which Christopher Foster of Rylstone bought “Hall Croft” (2 acres) and “Hall Hough” (3 roods, which is about 0.75 acres or 3000 sq.m.) from a Samuel Swire of Cononley. Included in the purchase was one beast gate or cattlegate (the right to graze one animal) in a common pasture known as Langhill. (This Christopher Foster seems likely to be the same Christopher Foster who is recorded in 1713 as by deed “granting” land for a Quaker meeting house).

 

*   The third Earl of Cumberland was George Clifford, 13th Lord of Skipton and a favourite courtier of Queen Elizabeth 1st. As a naval commander and privateer he led several expeditions against Spanish and Portuguese possessions and merchant ships. He gambled heavily, mismanaged his estates and fell into debt, presumably the reason for his sale of land in Cononley. On his death, his sole surviving child, Anne Clifford, inherited only a small part of what was left of her father‘s fortune, most of it going to his brother. She eventually got back most of the estate after much litigation. See more information on the Clifford family on the People of Rylstone section of this website.