He was chosen, in part, because of sporting background was prized among military chaplains. In 1944, he was succeeded as principal by John Bateman-Champain, a former first-class cricketer. He retired as Canon Emeritus of Bristol Cathedral.
Swann moved to Nairobi as Archdeacon from 1926 to 1927, to Egypt in the same position in 1928, and returned to England in 1933, where he became vicar of Leighton Buzzard. In 1937 he became vicar of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol and in 1941 was appointed Chaplain to King George VI. In 1943, he became the first principal of the RAF Chaplains' School based at Magdalene College, Cambridge: it taught a Moral Leadership Course (ie Christian ethics) for officers and airmen of the RAF, and a Chaplains' Course as a refresher for veteran chaplains.