diff --git a/CHANGES.current b/CHANGES.current
index 123c51f12..e08aa5cb6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.current
+++ b/CHANGES.current
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ Version 4.0.0 (in progress)
 
             Similar to the earlier PEP 366 conforming fix for non-builtin.
 
+2018-11-29: adr26
+            [Python] #1360 Leak of SWIG var link object
+
+            Fix reference counting on _SWIG_globals to allow var link to be freed on module unload.
+
 2018-11-28: wsfulton
             [Python] When using -builtin, the two step C-extension module import is now
             one step and the wrapped API is only available once and not in an underlying
diff --git a/Lib/python/pyinit.swg b/Lib/python/pyinit.swg
index 621d6f9ed..d8f3bf444 100644
--- a/Lib/python/pyinit.swg
+++ b/Lib/python/pyinit.swg
@@ -326,7 +326,8 @@ SWIGEXPORT
   void
 #endif
 SWIG_init(void) {
-  PyObject *m, *d, *md;
+  PyObject *m, *d, *md, *globals;
+
 #if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03000000
   static struct PyModuleDef SWIG_module = {
     PyModuleDef_HEAD_INIT,
@@ -379,6 +380,8 @@ SWIG_init(void) {
   assert(metatype);
 #endif
 
+  (void)globals;
+
   /* Create singletons now to avoid potential deadlocks with multi-threaded usage after module initialization */
   SWIG_This();
   SWIG_Python_TypeCache();
diff --git a/Source/Modules/python.cxx b/Source/Modules/python.cxx
index 396a5d22e..66d34992a 100755
--- a/Source/Modules/python.cxx
+++ b/Source/Modules/python.cxx
@@ -3319,7 +3319,17 @@ public:
        Python dictionary. */
 
     if (!have_globals) {
-      Printf(f_init, "\t PyDict_SetItemString(md, \"%s\", SWIG_globals());\n", global_name);
+      Printf(f_init, "\t globals = SWIG_globals();\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "\t if (!globals) {\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "     PyErr_SetString(PyExc_TypeError, \"Failure to create SWIG globals.\");\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "#if PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03000000\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "\t   return NULL;\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "#else\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "\t   return;\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "#endif\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "\t }\n");
+      Printf(f_init, "\t PyDict_SetItemString(md, \"%s\", globals);\n", global_name);
+      Printf(f_init, "\t Py_DECREF(globals);\n");
       if (builtin)
 	Printf(f_init, "\t SwigPyBuiltin_AddPublicSymbol(public_interface, \"%s\");\n", global_name);
       have_globals = 1;
@@ -3407,9 +3417,9 @@ public:
     Wrapper_print(getf, f_wrappers);
 
     /* Now add this to the variable linking mechanism */
-    Printf(f_init, "\t SWIG_addvarlink(SWIG_globals(), \"%s\", %s, %s);\n", iname, vargetname, varsetname);
+    Printf(f_init, "\t SWIG_addvarlink(globals, \"%s\", %s, %s);\n", iname, vargetname, varsetname);
     if (builtin && shadow && !assignable && !in_class) {
-      Printf(f_init, "\t PyDict_SetItemString(md, \"%s\", PyObject_GetAttrString(SWIG_globals(), \"%s\"));\n", iname, iname);
+      Printf(f_init, "\t PyDict_SetItemString(md, \"%s\", PyObject_GetAttrString(globals, \"%s\"));\n", iname, iname);
       Printf(f_init, "\t SwigPyBuiltin_AddPublicSymbol(public_interface, \"%s\");\n", iname);
     }
     Delete(vargetname);