Diary of Lilian Swanwick (1880-1942), wife of the painter Joseph Harold Swanwick...

Ethel Lilian Heatley was born in Over, Cheshire, in 1880, the daughter of Thomas Heatley, a farmer, and his wife Mary Ellen. She married Joseph (Jo) Harold Swanwick in 1907 at Solihull, Warwickshire. Jo's parents were Joseph Powell Swanwick, a former doctor who also farmed in Cheshire, and his wife Eliza Harriet, whom he married in 1851. The diary was written by Lilian in the year after her marriage. At this time the couple were living in rented rooms in Wilmington; in 1912 they moved to Twytten House, where they spent the rest of their lives. They walked almost daily on the downs, or motored further afield, particularly on shopping trips to Eastbourne or to places to paint. There was frequent correspondence between Lilian and her family, and friends stayed with them regularly. Their most frequent companions were Mr and Mrs Newton (whose first names are never mentioned). They often dined at each others houses, and played tennis on the Newton tennis court. Lilian and Mrs Newton occasionally went riding together. When at home Lilian, who was an amateur painter, often mentions making and mending clothes, sitting for her husband, and playing the piano, as well as regularly polishing the brass on the car. Lilian and Jo had no children, and Twytten House passed to Lilian's brother Harry Heatley, who lived in Arlington, and had formerly grown coffee at the Kamiti Ranch in Kenya. Harry too was childless, and after his death the house passed to Norman Heatley, the son of Lilian's brother George. Norman was a member of the Oxford team who developed penicillin during the Second World War. for further biographical information concerning Joseph Harold Swanwick, see AMS 6785/3

Donated 14 March 2005 (ACC 9162)

Lilian was the great-aunt of the donor (sister of her paternal grandfather George Heatley). The donor's father, Norman Heatley, inherited Twytten House, the Swanbrick home.