British colonial official in Malaya who was highly influential in shaping British policy and the structure of British administration in the Malay Peninsula.

In 1871 Swettenham was sent to Singapore as a cadet in the civil service of the Straits Settlements (Singapore, Malacca, and Penang Island). He learned the Malay language and played a major role as British-Malay intermediary in the events surrounding British intervention in the peninsular Malay states in the 1870s. In 1882 he was appointed resident (adviser) to the Malay state of Selangor. He successfully promoted the development of coffee and tobacco estates in the state and helped boost tin earnings by constructing a railway from Kuala Lumpur, capital of Selangor, to the port of Klang. Subsequently he served as resident of Perak state and in 1895 secured an agreement of federation from the states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang; he headed the federation, with the title of resident-general. In 1897 he was knighted, and in 1901, three years before retiring, he was made high commissioner for the Malay states and governor of the Straits Settlements.

It was largely through Swettenham's efforts that the British Foreign Office reversed its policy of accepting Siamese control of the northern tier of Malay states. His portrayal of their maladministration under native rulers and his warnings of possible intervention by rival European powers led to British penetration of those states in the early 1900s.