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Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham
A statue of Sir Swettenham within the compound of Muzium Negara at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
King of Arms of the Order of St Michael and St George
In office 1925 – 1938
Preceded by	Sir Montagu Ommanney
Succeeded by	Sir William Weigall
Majority	British
General of the Federated Malay States
In office 1896 – 1901
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements
In office 1901 – 1904
Born	28 March 1850(1850-03-28) Belper, Derbyshire, England
Died	11 June 1946 (aged 96) London, England
Residence	King's House, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Occupation	British colonial official

Sir Frank Athelstane Swettenham GCMG CH (28 March 1850–11 June 1946) was the first Resident General of the Federated Malay States (part of the then Royal Colonies, now independent Malaysia) which was formed by combining a number of kingdoms. He served from July 1, 1896 to 1901. He was also an amateur photographer. He was born in Belper, Derbyshire^[1], Britain.

He was one of close to forty former British empire officials to actually oppose the Malayan Union.

He created a dictionary "Vocabulary of the English and Malay languages". He also published two books "Malay Sketches" and "Unaddressed Letters".

Swettenham was a British colonial official in British Malaya, who was famous as highly influential in shaping British policy and the structure of British administration in the Malay Peninsula.

In 1871 Swettenham was first 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.

He was a member of the Commission for the Pacification of Larut set up following the signing of the Pangkor Treaty of 1874 and he served alongside John Frederick Adolphus McNair, and Chinese Kapitan Chung Keng Quee and Chin Seng Yam. The Commission was successful in freeing many women taken as captives during the Larut Wars (1862-73), getting stockades dismantled and getting the tin mining business going again.

More than a decade later, in 1882, which he was appointed as resident (adviser) to the Malay state of Selangor. In Selangor office, the development of coffee and tobacco estates had successfully promoted by him, while in the meantime, helped boost tin earnings by constructing a railway from Kuala Lumpur (it was capital of Selangor at that time), to the port of Klang, which was later named Port Swettenham in his honour.

He was attended the federation, along with the title of resident-general after secured an agreement of federation from the states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang in 1895, when the time he served as resident of Perak state. In 1897 he was knighted by the King George VI, and in 1901, three years before his retirement, he was granted as high commissioner for the Malay states and governor of the Straits Settlements.

Through Swettenham's huge efforts to convince 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.

• He was Deputy Commissioner with the Perak Expedition from 1875-1876.
• British Resident of Selangor in 1882, of Perak from 1889-1895.
• Resident-General of the Federated Malay States (now Malaysia) in 1896-1901.
• Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Straits Settlements 1901-1904.
• Swettenham chaired the royal commission to enquire into the affairs of Mauritius in 1909.
• He was also joint director of the Official Press Bureau from 1915-1919.

• Burns, P.L., and Cowan, C.D. ed. (1975), 'Sir Frank Swettenham's Malayan journals 1874-1876', Kuala Lumpur, London: Oxford University Press.
• Clifford, Hugh Charles, and Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1894), 'A dictionary of the Malay language', Taiping, Perak: Printed for the author's at the Government's printing office.
• Cowan, C.D. ed. (1952), 'Sir Frank Swettenham's Perak journals 1874-1876', 'Journal of the Malayan branch of the Royal Asiatic Society', vol.24, part 4. Singapore: Malaya Publishing House.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1881), 'Vocabulary of the English and Malay languages'. Singapore: printed at the Government Printing Office.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1893), 'About Perak'. Singapore: Straits Times Press.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1895), 'Malay sketches'. London: John Lane.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1898), 'Unaddressed letters'. London: John Lane.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1899), 'The real Malay'. London: John Lane.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1907), 'British Malaya'. London: John Lane.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1910), 'Report of the Mauritius royal commission, 1909'. HMSO.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1912), 'Also and perhaps'. London: John Lane.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1925), 'Arabella in Africa'. London: John Lane.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1942), 'Footprints in Malaya'. London: Hutchinson.
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1946 ?), 'The future of Malaya'. [S.l.]: [s.n.]
• Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1967), 'Stories and sketches'. Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press.^[2]

1. ^ Frank Swettenham at biography.com
2. ^ Cambridge University Library 2003: from[1], dated 10 May 2004.

• Article
• Association of British Malaya
• Carcosa Seri Negara
• Straits Settlements