Swinton (c1725-1799) was a Scotsman who married Felicite Jeanne Le Febre, daughter of an officer in the French Guard of Louis XVI who was killed on the steps of the Palace of Versailles in 1789. The marriage took place in 1775-1776 in France. He married her again in England, as Protestants at that time had no civil rights in France. As he was a domiciled Scotsman this would legitimize any children born before the second marriage. She died in London in 1823 and is said to be buried in St John's Wood parish church. Samuel died in about 1799. According to Eliza Jacob, the Marquis D'Hauteville was the head of the Le Febre family. The title and the estates were swept away in the French revolution.

Baroness Orczy, who wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel in 1905, loosely based the story of the hero, Sir Percy Blakeney, on the life of Samuel in France during the French Revolution where, with his wife, they assisted in the escape of aristocrats who were in danger of going to the guillotine.