John Swinton (1703 – 4 April 1777)[1] was a British writer, academic, Fellow of the Royal Society,[2] Church of England clergyman and orientalist.
He entered Wadham College, Oxford as a servitor, matriculating on 10 October 1719, and on 30 June 1723 he was elected a scholar.
[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.
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.