Swiney (Sweeney), John (1773–1844), United Irishman, was born 10 August 1773 in Cork city, son of Daniel Sweeny and Elenor Sweeny (née Anglim). By the early 1790s he ran a large woollen drapery on Shandon St., Cork. In c.1794 he became enthusiastically involved in the United Irishmen, a movement initially of slow growth in Cork. He had little regard for John (qv) and Henry Sheares (qv), and was more associated with Arthur and Roger O'Connor (qv); he maintained contact with the Dublin movement through correspondence with his fellow draper Oliver Bond (qv). In c.1795 he enlisted in the Loyal Cork Legion of yeomanry with a fellow radical, Edmond Finn (qv). During 1797 he and Finn left the yeomanry in protest at orders to convey political prisoners to jail. (At this period he was one of the main city organisers within the United Irishmen and was under government surveillance.) In late March 1798 he may have published and circulated handbills entreating the militia not to assist in the execution of two Co. Dublin militia privates sentenced to death for sedition on 15 March. Arrested by the city sheriff on privy council warrant on 28 March 1798 (the date of the two privates’ execution by firing squad), he was taken to Newgate on 31 March. Although there was no evidence to link him with the handbills, he was placed in indefinite confinement with other ‘state prisoners’, under the act suspending habeas corpus. Held in Newgate until March 1799, he was then transferred with the leading state prisoners to Fort George, Scotland.
Interned at Fort George until June 1802, he became involved in the factional conflict between Thomas Addis Emmet (qv) and Arthur O'Connor (qv), favouring the former. Released on condition of permanent exile shortly after the peace of Amiens, he travelled to Amsterdam in company with Emmet and others. In July 1803 he was assigned to contact Robert Emmet (qv) in Ireland to alert him to the pending launch of a French expeditionary force to which the newly formed Irish Legion would be attached. Reaching Cork just as the Emmet rising collapsed, he spent several weeks bringing the remnants of the county's United Irish organisation briefly to life before slipping back to France in a fishing smack. Back in Paris by late October 1803, he was the first to bring detailed news of the late insurrection and the trial and hanging of Emmet to his brother. He also recommended to authorities that the time was not ripe for the projected expedition. On 7 December 1803, soon after regularising his terms of residence, he joined the Irish Legion as a lieutenant. Promoted to captain on 22 March 1804, he was already conspicuous among partisans of Emmet as the conflict with O'Connor simmered on in the divided legion.
Tensions flared on the parade ground on 3 June 1804 as Gen. Bernard MacSheehy (qv) swore in officers and men under the new oath of empire. O'Connor partisans saw an opportunity to make political capital out of Swiney's initial expression of disquiet as to the purport of the oath (he feared a conflict with his allegiance to the United Irishmen). Though it appears that Swiney was in fact fully sworn in after a few minutes’ hesitation on parade, on the following day Thomas Corbet (qv), a member of the legion administrative council, objected to countersigning routine papers of confirmation, insisting that Swiney had scamped the oath. Next evening, while assembling for parade, Swiney assaulted Corbet and both were taken into custody after a scuffle in which Corbet's brother William (qv) also became involved. After two months’ detention, MacSheehy, increasingly assimilated into the Emmet faction, produced a report unfavourable to the Corbets. This was superseded in late September by a further report overseen by O'Connor, in which both Thomas Corbet and Swiney were censured and MacSheehy replaced by a French officer.
The affair had, to French eyes, highlighted a vein of disloyalty to the empire in the legion, in addition to discrediting the military discipline of the Irish volunteers. Effectively the episode brought the triumph of the O'Connor faction as a disillusioned Emmet emigrated to the USA. Swiney was released 20 September 1804, a week after requesting discharge from the legion. Released simultaneously, Thomas Corbet directly challenged Swiney to a duel for that afternoon. They exchanged fire five times, and Corbet was mortally wounded. Though Swiney was not prosecuted for the affray, he was placed under police restrictions. He settled in Morlaix after resigning from the legion. Resuming the wool business, he travelled to the US in 1805–6 to set up trading contacts. In 1807–8 he lived in Bordeaux. He was released from police registration in October 1808, and worked as a successful wool and cloth merchant in Morlaix for the rest of his life. He died 19 October 1844 and is buried in the cemetery of Saint-Martin in the town.
He married (1805) Marie Victoire Pezron (b. 1788), daughter of Jean-Francois Pezron, senior officer of coastguards, Morlaix, and related by marriage to Gen. Jean Victor Moreau; they had two sons.