Michael Meredith Swann, Baron Swann of Coln St Denys, 1 March 1920 - 22 September 1990

Abstract

Michael Meredith Swann was born on 1 March 1920. He was the son of M.B.R. Swann, M.D., Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and Marjorie Dykes. He was an Exhibitioner at Winchester College (where he was not happy) and then a Scholar at Gonville and Caius College where he took an M.A. and a Ph.D. Having served with distinction in the Army (1940-1946) in various capacities, mostly scientific, and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel at the age of 26, he returned to Cambridge after the war. He worked in the Zoology Department until 1952 and was a University Demonstrator in Zoology (1946-1952) and a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College (1946-1952). In 1952, he moved to Edinburgh University when he was appointed to the Chair of Natural History (Head of the Zoology Department) at the early age of 32. The later parts of his varied and distinguished career are described at the end of this memoir. In 1942, he married Tess Gleadowe, A.R.C.M., A.R.C.O., the daughter of Professor R.M.Y. Gleadowe, C.V.O. and Cecil Rotton. The Swanns had two sons and two daughters, all now living. It was in every way a happy and successful marriage and Michael was very much a family man.