Queer Places:
University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX1 3PA
Wadham College Chapel
Oxford, City of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
John Swinton (1703 – April 4, 1777)[1] was a British writer, academic, Fellow of the Royal Society,[2] Church of England clergyman and orientalist.[3][4] In 1731 he was a fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, but migrated to Christ Church in 1745. He contributed to George Sale's Universal History.[5] Swinton also contributed articles on the transcription of the 'Ruins of Palmyra'.[6] Beginning in 1749, Swinton donated a number of Roman coins to the collection at Christ Church.[7] From 1767 until the year of his death he was Keeper of the Archives at Oxford University.[8][9] Robert Thistlethwayte was the third son of Francis Thistlethwayte of Winterslow, Wiltshire. He was a Warden of Wadham College, and clergyman in the Church of England. A limerick was prompted by a scandal at Wadham College in 1739. The 52-year-old Warden of Wadham, Robert Thistlethwayte, Doctor of Divinity, was accused of trying to seduce a Commoner of the College, William French, and the subsequent investigation revealed that he had tried to seduce many man, including the Barber of the College. Thistlethwayte was formally charged with sodomy, but after he posted bail and resigned all his offices, he fled to the Continent, and lived in Boulogne until his death in 1744. The College Tutor John Swinton was also intimately involved in the affair, and he was accused of having sex with several young men, but he braved it out and wasn't prosecuted. Swinton married in 1743.
The son of John Swinton of Bexton in Cheshire, he was born in the county. He entered Wadham College, Oxford as a servitor, matriculating on 10 October 1719, and on 30 June 1723 he was elected a scholar. He graduated B.A. on 1 December 1723, and proceeded M.A. on 1 December 1726.[10] Swinton was ordained deacon on 30 May 1725 and priest on 28 May 1727; and in February 1728 he was instituted into the rectory of St Peter-le-Bailey, Oxford. On 16 October 1728 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and on 30 June 1729 was chosen a probationer-fellow of Wadham. He then accepted the position of chaplain to the English factory at Livorno, went to Florence in 1733, and returned to England after visiting Venice, Vienna, and Pressburg. He then took up his abode in Oxford, where he resided till 1743, when he was appointed a prebendary of St. Asaph Cathedral on 11 October, resigning his fellowship at the same time.[10] In July 1745 Swinton migrated to Christ Church and in 1759 proceeded B.D. He was elected keeper of the archives of the university in 1767, and, dying on 4 April 1777, was buried in the antechapel of Wadham. He was married, but left no children. His wife, who died in 1784, was also buried in Wadham chapel.[10]
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