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{{Short description|British colonial governor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[Sir]]
|honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCMG|CB}}
|image = Sir Eric John Eagles Swayne.jpg
|alt =
|caption =
|office1 = [[Commissioner of British Somaliland]]
|term_start1 = 1902
|term_end1 = 1905
|predecessor1 = [[Harry Cordeaux]] (acting)
|successor1 = Harry Cordeaux
|office2 = [[Governor of British Honduras]]
|term_start2 = 13 August 1906
|term_end2 = 9 May 1913
|predecessor2 = [[Bickham Sweet-Escott]]
|successor2 = [[Wilfred Collet]]
|birth_date = 14 May 1863
|birth_place = [[Darmstadt]], [[German Confederation|Germany]]
|death_date = {{death-date and age|9 September 1929|14 May 1863}}
|death_place =
|restingplace =
|birthname =
|nationality = British
|party =
|otherparty = 
|spouse =
|partner = 
|relatives = [[Harald George Carlos Swayne]] (brother)
|children =
|residence =
|education = [[St Edward's School, Oxford]]
|alma_mater = [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
|occupation =
|profession =
|cabinet =
|committees =
|portfolio =
|signature =
|signature_alt =
|website =
|footnotes =

|nickname =
|allegiance = {{flag|British Empire}}
|branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears =
|rank =
|unit = {{ubl|[[Welch Regiment]]|[[Indian Staff Corps]]}}
|commands =
|battles =
|awards =
}}
'''Sir Eric John Eagles Swayne''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=|KCMG|CB}} (14 May 1863 – 9 September 1929) was a [[British Army]] officer and colonial administrator. He served in [[British Somaliland]], where he was appointed Commissioner, and as Governor of [[British Honduras]], now Belize.

== Early years ==
Swayne was born on 14 May 1863. His parents were George Carless Swayne, a [[classical scholar]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Ancient Classics for English Readers (William Blackwood & Sons) – Book Series List |url=http://www.publishinghistory.com/ancient-classics-for-english-readers-blackwood.html |website=www.publishinghistory.com |access-date=8 May 2017}}</ref> [[curate]] and essayist, and Margaret Sarah Eagles, a poet.{{sfnm|1a1=Boyle|1y=2007|2a1=Reilly|2y=2000|2p=447}}

He was educated abroad and at [[St Edward's School, Oxford]], before attending the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], as a [[Gentleman Cadet]] for a year.
In 1882 he joined the [[Welsh Regiment]], and later transferred to the [[Indian Staff Corps]].
Swayne served in the [[Anglo-Burmese Wars|Burma Campaign]] (1885–1887), the [[African Campaign]] (1898), and in [[British Somaliland]].{{sfn|Boyle|2007}}

== British Somaliland ==
{{Main|Somaliland campaign}}
The emir of Dervish Sultan [[Las Anod#Diiriye Guure|Diiriye Guure]] was Sayid [[Mohammed Abdullah Hassan]], known by the British at the time as the "Mad Mullah" since he would not accept colonial rule.{{sfn|Boyle|2007}}

In 1900, a part of the first British Somaliland expedition at [[Samala]] drove off [[Dervish movement (Somali)|Darawiish]] with heavy losses. The Darawiish retreated south towards [[Ferdiddin]], near [[Docmo (town)|Damot]], where he engaged with the main force of the British expedition under Swayne, who was by 1901 commander of the [[Somaliland Field Force]]. Darawiish again suffered high losses and fled to Italian territory. The next year, Darawiish were the victors against Swayne in an engagement at [[Erego]] on 17 June 1901.{{sfn|Jaques|2007|pp=350–351}} An account of the fighting written by Swayne himself is included in the ''[[London Gazette]]'' dated 18 April 1902.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27426 |pages=2587–2598 |date=18 April 1902}}</ref>

Swayne was promoted to [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]] on 18 November 1901, in recognition of his services during the fighting.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=1| issue=27428 |page=2760 |date=25 April 1902}}</ref> In March 1902 he was appointed Commissioner, Commander-in-Chief and Consul General of the [[Somaliland Protectorate]],<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |date=11 March 1902 |page=9 |issue=36712}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=1| issue=27417 |page=1879 |date=18 March 1902}}</ref> with the local rank of [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|colonel]] whilst commanding the troops in Somaliland.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=1| issue=27426 |page=2604 |date=18 April 1902}}</ref> Another campaign was planned for late 1902, but it took time to gather the necessary supplies, and it was delayed as Swayne returned to England due to illness in November.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Latest intelligence – The Somaliland Expedition|date=8 November 1902 |page=7 |issue=36920}}</ref> The campaign eventually took place February to June 1903, but did not end the conflict, and was followed by another campaign the following year.

In all, Swayne led four military expeditions in British Somaliland.{{sfn|Boyle|2007}}

== British Honduras ==
Swayne was Governor of [[British Honduras]] from 1906 to 1913. He was knighted in June 1910.{{sfn|Boyle|2007}}
Throughout Swayne's governorship, his administration was attacked in Legislative Council and in the pages of the ''Clarion'' by the Creole establishment, of whom a few were white but most were mixed race.{{sfn|Macpherson|2007|pp=48}}
Swayne was accused of being autocratic, as was his successor [[William Collet]].{{sfn|Macpherson|2007|pp=36}}
One of the targets of criticism was construction of the railway and subsequent sale of the Middlesex [[banana plantation]] to [[United Fruit]].{{sfn|Striffler|Moberg|2003|pp=167}}
In his correspondence with the [[Colonial Office]], Swayne recommended extremely favorable terms to United Fruit so they would accept the offer rather than expanding in Guatemala.{{sfn|Moberg|1997|pp=25–26}}
Later, the hostility of the elite towards United Fruit was reversed. An editorial in the ''Clarion'' in 1914 said of a [[steamship]] subsidy requested by United Fruit that it was "well within our means ... and by no means excessive".{{sfn|Striffler|Moberg|2003|pp=167}}

In 1917 Swayne said: "We have to remember that the people of British Honduras have always been the freest people on earth. They originally had a public assembly which elected its own magistrates, and these magistrates carried out the laws which the public assembly, that is, the whole people, chose to adopt."{{sfn|Carey Jones|2011|pp=136}}
He also said:
<blockquote>The mahogany cutters... used to sell themselves into a sort of slavery by receiving advances from their employers at the beginning of the season, which advances they spent most liberally in the town.. leaving their families to starve.</blockquote>
This may be a somewhat exaggerated description.{{sfn|Carey Jones|2011|pp=52}}
He added: "It is a pity, I think, having regard to the comfortable competency secured out of the Colony by successful merchants, that practically none have elected to remain in the country on retirement."{{sfn|Carey Jones|2011|pp=133}}

== Later career and legacy ==

During the [[First World War]] Swayne's roles included Assistant Inspector of Recruiting.
He retired in 1919 as a [[Brigadier general (United Kingdom)|brigadier general]] and died on 9 September 1929.{{sfn|Boyle|2007}} He was buried in the cemetery of the [[St Thomas à Becket Church (disambiguation)|St Thomas à Becket Church]], [[Pucklechurch]], [[South Gloucestershire]].{{sfn|Boyle|2007}}

The tree genus ''[[Givota]]'', which has light but very strong wood, was found in Northeast Africa, including the British Somaliland protectorate.
Swayne suggested that it might be useful in airplane construction, an idea that was being explored at the outbreak of World War I.{{sfn|Smith|1968|pp=493}}
Swayne's elder brother, Colonel [[H. G. C. Swayne]], was one of the first British officers to travel in British Somaliland, and later wrote a book titled ''Seventeen Trips to Somaliland''. In 1933 he donated eighty eight objects to the [[British Museum]], including jewellery and weapons of Somali origin, that he and Swayne had collected.{{sfn|RAAD International}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}
'''Sources'''
{{refbegin|22em}}
*{{cite news
|url=http://www.pucklechurch.org/html/features_sept07.html
|work=Online Pucklechurch News
|title=Never the Swayne Shall Meet?
|date=September 2007
|first=Gail |last=Boyle
|access-date=2011-09-02}}
*{{cite book
|url={{GBurl|id=w_fKrxsF74sC}} |url-access=limited
|title=The Pattern of a Dependent Economy: The National Income of British Honduras
|first=N. S. |last=Carey Jones
|publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011
|isbn=978-0-521-24201-1}}
*{{cite book
|url={{GBurl|id=Dh6jydKXikoC}} |url-access=limited
|title=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: F–O
|first=Tony |last=Jaques
|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2007
|isbn=978-0-313-33538-9}}
*{{cite book
|url={{GBurl|id=3Taaky3WEwsC}} |url-access=limited
|title=From Colony to Nation: Women Activists and the Gendering of Politics in Belize, 1912–1982
|first=Anne S. |last=Macpherson
|publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2007
|isbn=978-0-8032-3242-6}}
*{{cite book
|url={{GBurl|id=9YqmceMXvSUC}} |url-access=limited
|title=Myths of Ethnicity and Nation: Immigration, Work, and Identity in the Belize Banana Industry
|first=Mark |last=Moberg
|publisher=University of Tennessee Press |year=1997
|isbn=0-87049-970-X}}
*{{cite book
|ref={{harvid|RAAD International}}
|url=http://raadinternational.com/booklet.pdf
|title=An Introduction to the Somali Ethnographic Collection Kept in the British Museum
|author=RAAD International
|access-date=2011-09-02
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331154221/http://raadinternational.com/booklet.pdf
|archive-date=2012-03-31
}}
*{{cite book
|url=https://archive.org/details/midvictorianpoet00reil |url-access=registration
|title=Mid-Victorian Poetry, 1860–1879: An Annotated Biobibliography
|last=Reilly |first=Catherine W.
|publisher=Mansell |location=London [England]; New York |year=2000
|isbn=978-0-7201-2318-0
}}
*{{cite journal
|jstor=4108360
|journal=Kew Bulletin
|volume=22 |issue=3 |year=1968
|title=An Account of the Genus Givotia Griff. (Euphobiaceae)
|first=A.R. |last=Smith
|pages=493–505
|doi=10.2307/4108360
}}
*{{cite book
|url={{GBurl|id=qSr3GFwcHvQC}}
|title=Banana Wars: Power, Production, and History in the Americas
|first1=Steve |last1=Striffler |first2=Mark |last2=Moberg
|publisher=Duke University Press |year=2003
|isbn=0-8223-3196-9}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
*{{NPG name}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swayne, Eric John Eagles}}
[[Category:1863 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials in Gloucestershire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Governors of British Somaliland]]
[[Category:Governors of British Honduras]]
[[Category:Indian Staff Corps officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Welch Regiment officers]]
[[Category:People from Darmstadt]]
[[Category:People from Pucklechurch]]
[[Category:Recipients of the MacGregor Medal]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Darmstadt]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:People educated at St Edward's School, Oxford]]

Eric John Eagles Swayne - Revision history

Bot at 19:05, 8 December 2022