Robert Egerton Swartwout


Robert Egerton Swartwout was an American-born author, poet, cartoonist, and coxswain. He was the only son of American architect Egerton Swartwout and British-born Geraldine Davenport Swartwout. He drew from his rowing experience to produce a locked room mystery about The Boat Race and many poems.

Rowing

Swartwout rowed and coxed for Middlesex School in Concord, MA, from which he graduated on June 13, 1924. While attending Trinity College at the University of Cambridge he became the first American to cox Cambridge University Boat Club to victory over Oxford in 1930. Swartwout was 5' 6", weighed, and possessed a powerful bass voice.

Writing

At Trinity College he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1928, followed by a master's degree in Literature in 1931; that same year he was president of the Cambridge University Liberal Club. Swartwout was a member and debater with the Cambridge Union Society. Under the pen name R.E. Swartwout he contributed to Granta and Punch, as well as crosswords for The Spectator. He wrote a short Holmesian piece entitled "The Omnibus Murder" and wrote four books:
In 1931 Swartwout wrote the introduction to Sir William Schwenck Gilbert A Topsy Turvy Adventure, by Townley Searle, London: Alexander-Ouseley, Ltd., 1931.

Personal

Robert Swartwout became a British subject on June 9, 1933.

Death

Swartwout died unmarried in Hartismere Hospital, Eye, Suffolk, England on June 6, 1951, of esophageal cancer complicated by pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 45.