George Swane was born in Brighton, Sussex, England in 1892. He was the sixth of nine children born to John Murray Swane and Mary Ann Maynard, both Brighton natives who had married in 1882. In 1911, his father had already passed away and his mother worked as a midwife. In March 1912, he was hired by Mr. Hudson Joshua Creighton Allison along with 3 other employees; a cook named Amelia Mary Brown, a nanny named Alice Catherine Cleaver, and a maid named Sarah Rebecca Daniels.
On April 10, 1912, the Allison family and their employees, including George Swane boarded the Titanic at Southampton bound for Montreal, Canada. While the Allison family, Alice Cleaver and Sarah Daniels traveled First Class, he and Miss Amelia Brown traveled Second Class. George stayed in a booth very close to Amelia's. On the night of the April 14, George and his cabinmates had enjoyed a pillow-fight keeping Amelia Brown and the other women in the other cabin awake.
After the collision, George knocked on the ladies' cabin door, warning them to get dressed as quickly as possible. According to Alice Cleaver's statements, because she was worried about finding the Allisons, George told her to get in a lifeboat with little Trevor and that he would look for Mr. Hudson Allison and Mrs. Bessie Daniels so they would know that their baby was safe. It is not known if this is true or not. Unfortunately, George Swane died along with his bosses and their daughter Loraine Allison in the disaster, the only employee of this family to lose his life. His body was recovered and he is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.