Henry Swanzy

Henry Swanzy (1841-1906) was a scion of the family of Henry Swanzy who came to Ireland with the army of William III (of Orange) in 1689 and settled in Co Monaghan.  His father (also Henry) was curate in Youghal in 1835 when he married Elizabeth Green (aunt of Willliam S Green).  Henry, born in December, 1841,  was cousin (once removed) to the latterly famous artist Mary Swanzy and was Rector of Castlemagner, Co Cork, for 35 years.

There seems to be very little information available on his early years.  He attended Mr Wall's school in Portarlington for a time and then Rathmines School under Mr Benson, before entering Trinity College in 1861 from where  he graduated BA in 1865 and MA in 1868. Ordained Deacon in 1866, then priest in 1868, he was curate in Kilshannig from 1866 to 1871.

His first foray to the Alps was in 1870 when he joined his cousin, W.S. Green and another Irish clerical gentleman, J.S. Lyle, and climbed the Brevant.  They went on that season to cross a number of Switzerland's notable passes (Col d'Herens, Adler and Grimsel Passes) and climbed two 4,000m peaks - Finsteraarhorn and Monte Rosa, with eminent guides, Alexander Burgener and Peter Knubel.

There appears to be little mountain activities in the following years. However as a member if the British Association for the Advance of Science (now the British Science Association) he is likely to have had a serious interest in scientific matters and when that association held its annual meeting in Canada in 1884 he attended, along with another Irish climber and naturalist Richard M. Barrington.  In a post conference excursion they travelled to Lake Louise (Courtesy of Canadian Pacific Railway) from where Swanzy and Barrington continued on foot on the proposed route of the rail line through 170 miles of the Rocky Mountains. The trek took 17 days, crossing the Roger's Pass to Shuswap Lakes and Kamloops.

The Canadian mountains may have greatly impressed him for in 1888, at his suggestion and along with his cousin, W.S Green, he set off again in what was probably the first all Irish expedition team to explore and map any mountain range outside Europe. They spent from mid July to early September in the mountains, much of the time surveying the hitherto unexplored part of the Selkirk Range 'lying immediately south of the Canadian Pacific railway track and enclosed by the highest peaks of the Selkirks' in the region of the Illecillewaet Glacier.  It was particularly difficult terrain, especially below the tree line and on one occasion they spent seven hours in travelling 1.5 miles.

On Mt Bonney

Swanzy hunting.

Swanzy leading

 They used pack horses to carry their 'gear' and sought the   services of a 'packer'.  When 'some mighty hunter expressed   a desire to join us...when he heard we were two parsons he "chucked it up" in disgust... he would have to knock off   swearing for a month and that that was utterly impossible". 
 When their badly packed horse took a fall, smashing much   of  their technical equipment, they would have given their   erstwhile packer "permission to swear for five minutes   without stopping".

(Illustrations from Among the Selkirk Glaciers, Aquila Books, Calgary - reprint)

Despite such misadventures  they completed the survey, made a first ascent of a 3,000m summit (they named Mt Bonney for the Alpine Club president) and named numerous topographical features that retain the name to this day (Mounts Dawson, Fox, Donkin, Deville -later changed to Selwyn, Macoun - for Prof John Macoun, Dominion Botanist and Naturalist who assisted them, born in Co Down in 1831). Marion Lake was named for Green's daughter and Lily Glacier for Swanzy's daughter.  Mount Swanzy (1895) and Mt Green (by A.O.Wheeler) were later named in their honour.

After their survey work they spent time in the Lake Louise area and it was at their suggestion that an hotel be located there that resulted in the subsequent construction of what is now Chateau Lake Louise.

https://www.chateau-lake-louise.com/

Further details of the survey are available in Frank Nugent's In search of Peaks, Passes and Glaciers

On their return to Ireland it was Green who gained fame as a result of the expedition from his lectures and the resulting book Among the Selkirk Glaciers. Swanzy seems to have faded into relative obscurity and it might be wondered if they ever hiked again in the mountains of Cork and Kerry in Ireland.

  

Mt Swanzy. Wikipedia

                                                                                                  

Mt Green. Wikipedia

James Bryce

 Politician, diplomat, jurist, political scientist, historian and mountaineer, James Bryce was a man of many parts. 

           

Born in a small terraced house in Arthur Street, Belfast, on 10th May 1838. He spent the first eight years of his life at his grandfather's residence on the shores of Belfast Lough.  At age eleven he climbed Trostan from Cushendall and claimed it was the birth and growth of his 'lifelong passion for mountain climbing'.   His schooling and academic career were extensive (see here for details).  He was widely honoured, receiving the order of merit (1907) and honorary degrees from thirty-one universities, and was president of the British Academy (1913–17). 

Bryce became a great mountain walker and climber, and his love of both activities was closely related to his interest in the natural world. In his early youth he spent much of his time in the mountains of Ireland and Scotland.   Bryce’s notable experiences of mountain landscape combined with a particular environmentalist sensibility and political liberalism to shape his pioneering ideas about landscape preservation. His mountaineering was important to his personal identity and to his practice as an historian. Bryce’s ideas about history were influenced by an environmentalist perspective on the world, gained through on-foot experience of it.

A slim, wiry man of medium height with a crisp purposeful walk and piercing deep-set eyes, Bryce exuded a sense of energy, liveliness, and movement; his pursuit of knowledge was incessant, his interests ranging over geology, botany, history, politics, law, and philosophy. He carried his great learning lightly and was happy with life's simple pleasures: smoking his pipe, reading, a good walk, or a brisk swim.

N Face Mt Bryce. Wikipedia

From 1862, when he spent a semester in Heidelberg University, he climbed the classics of Switzerland and Italy including Monte Rossa, Streckhorn Monte Pelmo and Marmolata. In 1866, with Leslie Stephen, he climbed in the Carpathians (Monte Csalho).  In 1872 he was in Iceland but seems not to have been impressed by the mountains there - 'in Switzerland....the difficulty is getting to the top of your peak. In Iceland it is getting to its bottom', requiring long , tedious journeys.  In 1873 he was in the Pyrenees, climbed with Henry Russell, and climbed Maladetta, Vignemale, Pic de Nethou and Canigou.  In 1876 he was the first European to climb Mount Ararat in Turkey.  In 1878 he was in Tatras in Carpathia and climbed a number of summits.  Elected to membership of the Alpine Club in 1879 and its president from 1899 to 1901 (in John Ball's footsteps).  In 1889 he was instrumental in the formation of the Cairngorm Club, the oldest and one of the largest hillwalking and climbing clubs in Scotland.

Mt Bryce. Wikipedia

As a politician, he was involved in many of the issues of the day - Irish Home Rule, education questions, trade unionism, and was regarded as 'the most accomplished man in the commons'. 1884 saw the introduction of his Access to Mountains (Scotland) Bill - to allow people to walk freely over uncultivated ground. In 1905 he became Chief Secretary for Ireland, introduced a number of commissions of enquiry. Even got himself out on the Irish hills 'leading his panting subordinates up the steep sides of Croagh Patrick or Craughan' (Douglas Freshfield).  He resigned in 1907, disappointed that his proposals had been rejected by Nationalists and took up position as British Ambassador to the USA.  He had been there earlier (1883) when he climbed Mt Rainier and visited Hawaii, ascending Mauna Loa (4,168m) and Kilauea (1,189m).  He used this opportunity to travel widely, visiting South America, Cook Islands, Australia and New Zealand.

He was the author of numerous books and articles on a variety of subjects; politics, law, history, education and travel.  Some of his climbing exploits feature in his travel writing but he published nothing that related solely to his mountaineering.

For details of his travels and climbs see:  Alpine Club Register  (Vol 3, p39) and  Frank Nugent's In search of Peaks, Passes and Glaciers for more details.

Bryce Canyon in Utah is not named in his honour, but for Ebenezer Bryce.

Mount Bryce in the Canadian Rockies was named in his honour by J Norman Collie in 1898 - the 15th highest peak in British Columbia.