Swettenham (H.S Barlow)

Frank Swettenham joined the Malayan Civil Service in 1870, aged twenty, and retired in 1903 as Governor of the Straits Settlements. He remained a significant voice in British colonial policy until his death in 1946, and his biography provides a unique account of colonial Malaya. Henry S. Barlow describes him as an “outstandingly able and effective man, but scarcely a nice one”, noting that Swettenham displayed “ruthless ambition” in his professional and social life and was “cruel, cold-hearted, and deceitful” in his personal life. This comprehensive and exceptionally readable account, a reprint of a limited edition privately published in 1995, presents the man in full.