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Tilda Swinton
Katherine Mathilda 'Tilda' Swinton
(Born London, 5 November 1960)
Born in London, Tilda's mother, Judith Balfour (née Killen), was Australian, and her father, Major-General Sir John Swinton of Kimmerghame, Berwickshire, KCVO, is a Scot. The Swintons are an Anglo-Scots family that can trace its lineage to the 9th century.
Tilda attended West Heath Girls' School (the same class as Diana, Princess of Wales) and, briefly, Edinburgh's Fettes College. In 1983 she graduated from New Hall, Cambridge University, with a Social and Political Sciences degree. She has two Honorary Doctorates: from Napier University in Edinburgh, and from Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
The Oscar-wining actress is currently one of Hollywood's hottest properties. Tilda starred in the highly successful film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), and co-starred with Brad Pitt, in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky (2001) and Pitt and George Clooney in Burn after Reading (2008). In 2008 she won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress for playing a ruthless corporate lawyer sparring with Clooney in Michael Clayton (2007). Tilda can choose the projects that most interest her, often setting aside more obvious 'hits' for more challenging work. She has created a catalogue of exceptional and thought-provoking performances.
Tilda's ancestry
Her career has been eventful but she is by no means the first in her family to lead a celebrated and noteworthy life. Among Tilda's ancestors are some extraordinary people who shaped the history of Scotland, whose stories are every bit as interesting as her own. She comes from an old Borders family, long distinguished for military and public service, and connected with many landed families. Her family tree includes, a renegade preacher, an Archbishop of Canterbury, a wine merchant, a Lord Lyon, an East India Company soldier, a singer, two professors of botany and one of the greatest minds of the Scottish Enlightenment. This, the fifth of our exhibitions, traced how Tilda is directly descended from arguably the most famous Scot of all, Robert the Bruce.
The painting on the left depicts Tilda's great grandparents, George and Elsie Swinton, with their daughter Mary and their son Alan, Tilda's grandfather. Painted at home in Kimmerghame by Sir William Orpen (click to enlarge).
Image: Private Collection
The photograph on the right shows Professor John Hutton Balfour (1808-1884), c.1879, the year he retired from the Royal Botanic Garden (click to enlarge). He was an outstanding teacher and field botanist.
Image: Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh
1881 census
The document on the left is the census return for Kimmerghame House, 3 April 1881 (click to enlarge). It lists Archibald Campbell Swinton, his wife and younger children. As was usual, most of the 10 household servants were unmarried women who had moved far from home. The number of rooms with windows is recorded, which gives us an idea of the size and comfort of the house.General Register Office for Scotland 1881 (738/00 003/00 008)
A partnership between the National Records of Scotland and the Court of the Lord Lyon© Crown copyright
