William Elford Leach FRS (2 February 1790 – 25 August 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist.

Leach was born at Hoe Gate, Plymouth, the son of a solicitor. At the age of twelve he went to school in Exeter, studying anatomy and chemistry. By this time he was already collecting marine samples from Plymouth Sound and along the Devon coast. At seventeen he began studying medicine at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, finishing his qualification at the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews.

In 1813, Leach returned to his zoological interests and was employed as assistant librarian in the Zoological Department at the British Museum. He set himself to sorting out the collections, many of which had been neglected since they had been left to the museum by Hans Sloane. During his time there he was made assistant keeper of the natural history department and became an expert on crustaceans and molluscs. In 1815, Leach published the first bibliography of entomology in Brewster's Edinburgh Encyclopedia (see Timeline of entomology – 1800–1850). In 1817, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. His book Synopsis of the Mollusca of Great Britain was dedicated to Marie Jules César Savigny, Georges Cuvier, and Giuseppe Saverio Poli and was posthumously completed by John Edward Gray. Leach also worked and published on insects, myriapods, arachnids, mammals and birds.

Coordinates: 52°41′N 1°43′W / 52.69°N 1.72°W / 52.69; -1.72

Elford is a village and civil parish in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, England. It is situated on the east bank of the River Tame, about 5 miles (8 km) east of the City of Lichfield and 5 miles north of Tamworth.

The village is said to have derived its name from the great number of eels with which the river here formerly abounded. Before the Norman conquest this manor belonged to Ælfgār, Earl of Mercia. In the reign of Henry III, it was held by William de Arderne, whose descendants continued to enjoy it till the marriage of Maud, sole heiress of Sir John Arderne, with Thomas, second son of Sir John Stanley, of Latham, carried it into that family.

Elford Hall was a handsome mansion, erected about 1758. The Hall and much of the surrounding land was bequeathed, unexpectedly and much to the chagrin of his family, by the current owner Mr Paget to 'the People of Birmingham'. It was intended to be used as leisure facilities or for day trips for the unwashed masses of Brummies, who perhaps predictably, never arrived. By the 1960s, the once beautiful, Elford Hall was so neglected by the 'People of Brimingham' that sadly it had to be torn down. Few reminders of that past splendour remain today, but those which do, including a walled garden, are currently the subject of demands for a return to 'the People of Elford', who may be better relied upon to look after it.

William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist.

Swainson was born in Dover Place, St. Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of John Timothy Swainson, an original fellow of the Linnean Society. He was cousin of the amateur botanist Isaac Swainson. His father's family originated in Lancashire, and both grandfather and father held high posts in Her Majesty's Customs, the father becoming Collector at Liverpool.

William, whose formal education was curtailed because of an impediment in his speech, joined the Liverpool Customs as a junior clerk at the age of 14. He joined the Army Commissariat and toured Malta and Sicily He studied the ichthyology of western Sicily and in 1815, was forced by ill health to return to England where he subsequently retired on half pay. William followed in his father's footsteps to become a fellow of the Linnean Society in 1815.

In 1816 he accompanied the explorer Henry Koster to Brazil. Henry Koster had travelled to Brazil once before and became famous for his book Travels in Brazil. There he met Dr Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff, also an explorer of Brazil, and Consul General of Russia. They did not spend a long time on shore because of a revolution, but Swainson returned to England in 1818 in his words "a bee loaded with honey", with a collection of over 20,000 insects, 1,200 species of plants, drawings of 120 species of fish, and about 760 bird skins.

John Burley Swainson (July 31, 1925 – May 13, 1994) was a politician from the US state of Michigan, as well as the 42nd Governor of Michigan.

Swainson was born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and moved to Port Huron, Michigan at the age of two with his family. His father, John A. C. Swainson, of Port Huron was Democratic Presidential Elector for Michigan in 1964 and an alternate delegate to Democratic National Convention from Michigan in 1972 [1].

Swainson served in the United States Army during World War II with the 95th Infantry Division and lost both legs in a land mine explosion November 15, 1944, near Metz, Alsace-Lorraine. He was awarded France's Croix de Guerre, the Presidential Unit Citation with two battle stars, and the Purple Heart, all before his nineteenth birthday.^{[citation needed]} After months of convalescence and rehabilitation at the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Swainson learned to walk upright and unassisted.

Swainson received a B.A. from Olivet College, where he also met and married his wife, Alice Nielson. She accompanied him to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a law degree in 1951. While there, he was elected student president of the law school.