[1] At the age of fifteen, Sweatman began to teach in the Sunday school of Christ Church, Marylebone.

[2] In 1859, Sweatman received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Christ's College, Cambridge, and was ordained as a deacon the same year.

[1] Sweatman soon distinguished himself as a pioneer in the movement for boys' clubs, beginning with the founding of the Islington Youths' Institute in 1860.

In 1865, whilst curate of St Stephen's in Canonbury, he impressed the visiting headmaster of Huron College, Upper Canada with his work with youths.

From 1874 to 1876, Sweatman again served as the principal of the London Collegiate Institute, which had been renamed Hellmuth Boys’ College.

In 1884, Sweatman recognized the foundation of the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, an Anglican religious order of women dedicated to nursing, education and other charitable endeavors, led by Hannah Grier Coome.