Hendrik Swellengrebel (Cape Town, 20 September 1700 – Utrecht, 26 December 1760) was the first and only Dutch East India Company governor of the Dutch Cape Colony who was born in the Cape.
[1] Swellengrebel was governor from 14 April 1739 to 27 February 1751.
The town of Swellendam in the Western Cape is named after him and his wife Helena Wilhelmina ten Damme.
[2] In 1751 he was succeeded as governor by Ryk Tulbagh.
Upon return to the Netherlands, he bought the land now known as the Kaapse Bossen (Cape Forests) in Utrecht.