Charles Swanston (11 December 1789 – 5 September 1850) was a British merchant, banker, and politician, and a financial backer of the Port Phillip Association.

In May 1814 Swanston left England and returned to duty in India via Scutari and Baghdad, a distance of 3000 km on horseback in 48 days.

In the aftermath to the Battle of Koregaon in 1818 he captured Trimbakji Dengle, a Marathi leader on whose head the British had placed a price of £10,000.

Swanston arrived at Hobart Town in HMS Success on 4 January 1829 with his wife Georgina (née Sherson) and their 6 children.

In November 1831 he was appointed managing director of the Derwent Bank, which had recently been established as a partnership predominantly by supporters of the government.

On behalf of many officers and officials in India he invested money in Van Diemen's Land in mortgages and bank shares.

In 1844 Swanston, in partnership with his son-in-law Edward Willis, began trading as a grazier and merchant in Geelong, Victoria.

Laura (1813 - 1849); Charles Lambert (1821 - 1897) who took over his father's interest in Swanston & Willis in 1850 and continued to manage the properties near Geelong.

With brother Charles, McDonald held a large sheep station, Otama, in the South Island of New Zealand from 1864 until 1877.