Julia Swayne y Mariátegui

Julia Josefa Swayne y Mariátegui ( — ) was a Peruvian socialite and heiress who served as First Lady of Peru from 1908 to 1912, and briefly in 1919, as the wife of Augusto B. Leguía, two-time president of Peru. The National Institute of Child Health, inaugurated in 1929, was dedicated to her memory.

Biography Swayne was born on , in Lima. Her parents were Henry Swayne Wallace ( — ) and Lucía Virginia Mariátegui y Palacio, who married on May 30, 1853. Her father was a Scottish businessman, originally from Dysart and a practising Anglican, baptised on . He had first visited Peru in 1824, and a supporter of the horse racing scene. In 1845, he established an import and export business at Calle de la Coca 172, in Lima, a branch of the Liverpool-based Swayne Reid & Co. operated by his brother Robert. He acquired the sugarcane estates at La Quebrada and Casa Blanca, as well as El Chilcal, Ungará, La Huaca and Santa Bárbara in Cerro Azul, and Motocache in Nepeña. She was born on , and baptised at the Iglesia del Sagrario.

The family owned two homes, one in Chorrillos and another one in Lima. The latter was located at the Calle de Pando, and originally owned by the heirs of the counts of San Javier y Casa Laredo. She studied at the Colegio Sagrados Corazones Belén, then sent to London to continue her studies. Upon her return to Lima, she married Augusto B. Leguía, then a representative of the New York Life Insurance Company, on . During the War of the Pacific, Swayne's father used his funds and diplomatic immunity to provide munitions to Peru.

During the events, Swayne took refuge at Felipe de la Torre's neighbouring residence. Months later, she would travel to England with her daughters Lola, Carmen Rosa and María Isabel, in order to meet her exiled husband, who had moved to Holland Park in 1913. Horrified at the events, she would later state that she would only return to Peru to be buried. Swayne eventually died in London, at number 28 of Holland Park, W.11, on . She was about to sail back home to accompany her husband, once again president of Peru, who would go on to govern the country until 1930.