Lieutenant-General
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...
Sir Colin Campbell (18 April 1776 – 13 June 1847) was a British Army officer and colonial governor.
Military career
Campbell was the fifth son of Colonel John Campbell of Melfort and Colina, daughter of John Campbell of Achalader. He was the triple great-great grandson of
Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel
Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel (; February 1629 – February 1719) was a Scottish soldier and the 17th chief of Clan Cameron. He fought during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and was one the principal Jacobite leaders during the 1689 Rising.
...
, through two of his daughters Katherine and Lucia, the latter of whom twice over. From his boyhood Campbell gave evidence of a daring disposition. When he was sixteen, he ran away from the
Perth Academy
Perth Academy is a state comprehensive secondary school in Perth, Scotland. It was founded in 1696. The institution is a non-denominational one. The school occupies ground on the side of a hill in the Viewlands area of Perth, and is within the P ...
, and entered himself on a ship heading to the West Indies. He was met in the fruit market at Kingston in Jamaica by his brother (afterwards Admiral Sir)
Patrick Campbell, then serving on
HMS ''Blonde'', who brought him home. His parents yielded to his wishes, and in 1793 he became a midshipman on board an East Indiaman and made one or two voyages.
In February 1795, Campbell became a lieutenant in the 3rd battalion of the
Breadalbane Fencibles, then commanded by his uncle, Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell of Achalader. With the Fencibles he saw action in the
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 (; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ''The Turn out'', ''The Hurries'', 1798 Rebellion) was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The m ...
. On 3 October 1799, he entered a West India regiment as ensign, and in 1800 acted as brigade-major in the
island of St. Vincent. On 21 August 1801, he was gazetted a lieutenant in the
35th Foot, and at once exchanged into the
78th Foot
The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot was a Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with 72nd Regiment, Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders to form the Seaforth Highlanders in 1881.
H ...
(Ross-shire Buffs), which was then stationed in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...
. He joined his new regiment at Poona, accompanied
Arthur Wellesley in the
Second Anglo-Maratha War
Second Anglo-Maratha War (from 1803 –1805) was a large conflict within the Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Empire involving the British East India Company. It resulted in major loss of territory for the Marathas, including regions around Delhi a ...
against the
Maharajah Scindia and the
Rajah of Nagpore, and so greatly distinguished himself by leading the flank companies at the storming of the
Pettah of Ahmednagar on 8 August 1803 that Wellesley at once appointed him brigade-major. In this capacity he served at the
Battle of Assaye
The Battle of Assaye was a battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the British East India Company. It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India. An outnumbered Indian and British force ...
, where he was severely wounded and had two (or possibly three) horses killed under him, at the
Battle of Argaum, and at the
storming of Gawilghur.
On leaving India, Wellesley strongly recommended Campbell to his brother,
Richard, Lord Wellesley, who made him his
aide-de-camp, and to
Lord Lake
Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake (27 July 1744 – 20 February 1808) was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India.
Background
He was ...
, who, on 9 January 1805, gave him a company in the
75th Highlanders. He returned to England with Lord Wellesley in 1806, and Sir Arthur Wellesley at once asked that he should be appointed brigade-major to his brigade, then stationed at
Hastings
Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...
. As brigade-major he accompanied Wellesley to Hanover and on the
Copenhagen Expedition (1807), when his services at the
battle of Kioge were conspicuous.
In 1808, Sir Arthur Wellesley appointed Campbell as his senior aide-de-camp, when he took command of the expeditionary force destined for
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
, and sent him home with the despatches announcing the
victory at Roliça on 17 August Campbell, however, windbound and hearing the guns, disembarked, and was present at the
Battle of Vimeiro
In the Battle of Vimeiro (sometimes shown as "Vimiera" or "Vimeira" in contemporary British texts) on 21 August 1808, the British under General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated the French under Major-Gene ...
.
Sir Harry Burrard then gave him the Vimeiro despatch, and Campbell was promoted a major in the army by brevet on 2 September 1808, and major of the
70th Foot
The 70th (Surrey) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot to form the East Surrey Regiment in 1881.
History Formation
The fo ...
on 15 December 1808. On the same day he was appointed an assistant adjutant-general to a division of the reinforcements intended for the Peninsula. He was present at the
passage of the Douro, at the battles of
Talavera and
Busaco, and was promoted lieutenant-colonel by brevet on 3 May 1810. He was frequently engaged during the pursuit of
Marshal Masséna
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated of ...
and was present at the
Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro
At the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), the Anglo-Portuguese Army under Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida.
A bloody stalemate ...
and at
Salamanca
Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...
. He obtained the post of assistant quartermaster-general at the headquarters of the army in the Peninsular, at Wellington's special request, in the spring of 1812, and acted in that capacity until the end of the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...
, doing much, it is said, to smooth Wellington's relations with the quartermaster-general,
George Murray. He was present at the
storming of Badajoz and in ten general actions, for which he received the
Peninsular Gold Cross and six clasps.
On 4 June 1814, Campbell was promoted colonel in the army by brevet, and on 25 July made a captain and lieutenant-colonel in the
Coldstream Guards
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...
. He was also appointed assistant quartermaster-general at the
Horse Guards, and made a KCB, and a knight of the
Tower and Sword of Portugal. In 1815 he was attached to the staff of the Duke of Wellington, as commandant at headquarters, and was present at the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
; he held the post throughout Wellington's residence at Paris in the army of occupation, from 1815 to 1818. According to Wellington he was a great soldier but a bad French scholar: "When he wished his dinner to be arranged on the table, he used, as it were, to address the dishes, 'Bif-teck venez içi! Petits pâtes allez là!" Campbell then exchanged his company in the guards for the lieutenant-colonelcy of the
65th Foot, which he held until he was promoted major-general in 1825. He held the command of the southern district for some years.
Campbell became
lieutenant-governor of Tobago in 1828 and
Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth and General Officer Commanding
South-West District later that year, and in 1833 was appointed
lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. In November 1840 he was promoted to the
governorship of Ceylon, where he remained from September 1839 to June 1847. It was during his tenure of the latter office that the Duke of Wellington, to whose faithful friendship he owed so much, wrote to him: "We are both growing old; God knows if we shall ever meet again. Happen what may, I shall never forget our first meeting under the walls of Ahmednuggur". He was colonel
99th Foot 1834–1836, and of
72nd Foot
The 72nd Highlanders was a British Army Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line. Raised in 1778, it was originally numbered 78th, before being redesignated the 72nd in 1786. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 78th (Highlanders) ...
1836 until death. In June 1847 he returned to England, and on 13 June he died, being buried in
St. James's Church, Piccadilly. A memorial to him also lies within the church.
Honours
Campbell was a Knight Commander of the Bath (military) and also a Knight of
Saint George of Russia, a Knight of
Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, a Knight Commander of the Portuguese Military Order of the
Tower and Sword and a Knight of the
Military Order of Maria Theresa
The Military Order of Maria Theresa (; ; ; ; ; ) was the highest military honour of the Habsburg monarchy, Austrian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire.
History
Founded on 18 June 1757, the day of the Battle of Kolín, by the Empress Mari ...
of Austria. He held the
Waterloo Medal
The Waterloo Medal is a military decoration that was conferred upon every officer, non-commissioned officer and soldier of the British Army (including members of the King's German Legion) who took part in one or more of the following battles: Li ...
and the Peninsular War's
Army Gold Medal
The Army Gold Medal (1808–1814), also known as the Peninsular Gold Medal, with an accompanying Gold Cross, was a British campaign medal awarded in recognition of field officer, field and general officers' successful commands in campaigns, predom ...
with clasps for Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes de Oñoro and Badajoz, with six clasps – for Salamanca,
Vitoria
Vitoria or Vitória may refer to:
People
* Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian
* Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer
* Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer
* Sofia Vitória ( ...
,
the Pyrenees,
Nivelle
Nivelle () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.
Heraldry
See also
*Communes of the Nord department
The following is a list of the 647 communes of the Nord department of the French Republic.
The communes cooperate ...
,
Nive
The Nive (; ; ) is a French river that flows through the French Basque Country. It is a left tributary of the river Adour. It is long. The river's source in the Pyrenees in Lower Navarre. The river Nive was made famous by the ''Le petit Nicol ...
and
Toulouse
Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
. Only Wellington, with nine clasps,
Lord Beresford and Sir
Denis Pack
Major-General Sir Denis Pack (7 October 1775 – 24 July 1823) was a British Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Background
A descendant of Sir Christopher Packe, Pack was the son of the Very Reverend ...
, with seven each, had more clasps to their medal.
Family
Campbell married Jane Harnden, and they had seven children
*Patrick Fitzroy Wellesley (1808–1875) was a colonel in the army.
*Arthur Wellington (1815–1846), was killed at the Battle of Badhowal Fort in the
First Sikh War.
*Frederick Archibald (1817–1874), was a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy.
*Maria Louisa, married secondly (1838), the Hon.
Edmund Phipps
Hon. Edmund Phipps (7 December 1808 – 28 October 1857) was a lawyer and author.
Career
Phipps was the third son of Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave and graduated from Trinity College, Oxford in 1828. In 1832 he was called to the bar at th ...
, son of
Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave
General Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, (14 February 17557 April 1831), styled The Honourable Henry Phipps until 1792 and known as The Lord Mulgrave from 1792 to 1812, was a British Army officer and politician who served as Foreign Secret ...
, and was the mother of ambassador Sir
Constantine Phipps, father of ambassador Sir
Eric Phipps
Sir Eric Clare Edmund Phipps (27 October 1875 – 13 August 1945) was a British diplomat.
Family
Phipps was the son of Sir Constantine Phipps, later British Ambassador to Belgium, and his wife, Maria Jane (née Miller Mundy). Henry Phipps ...
. Her first husband was the Hon.
Charles Francis Norton
Charles Francis Norton (1807 – 1835) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament for Guildford. Norton was also a Captain of 52nd Light Infantry. Through his wife Maria Louisa, née Campbell, he was son-in-law of Sir Colin Campbell; he was also ...
, died 1835, buried in
Old Burying Ground (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
The Old Burying Ground (also known as St. Paul's Church (Halifax), St. Paul's Church Cemetery) is a historic cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road in Downtown Halif ...
. She died in 1888.
Ancestry
Portraits
Campbell can be seen in three works at the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
* National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
* National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London
...
:
Sir Colin Campbell in the National Portrait Gallery collection
/ref> a pencil and watercolour sketch by Thomas Heaphy (1803), an oil on canvas by William Salter (c1834), and in the group ''Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington KG &c &c Giving Orders to his Generals Previous to a General Action'' by Thomas Heaphy (1822). Drawings of him are also in the British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...
, and he can be seen in William Salter's group portrait ''Waterloo banquet at Apsley House
Apsley House is the London townhouse of the Dukes of Wellington. It stands alone at Hyde Park Corner, on the south-east corner of Hyde Park, facing towards the large traffic roundabout in the centre of which stands the Wellington Arch. It ...
'', in the Wellington Museum
Wellington Museum (formerly the Museum of City & Sea) is a museum on Queens Wharf in Wellington, New Zealand. It occupies the 1892 Wellington Harbour Board Head Office and Bond Store, Bond Store, a historic building on Jervois Quay on the wat ...
.
In popular culture
Campbell's storming of the walls at Ahmednuggur
Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...
forms an episode in Bernard Cornwell
Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his long-running series of novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also writ ...
's novel '' Sharpe's Triumph''.
Notes
References
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*
*
Attribution
* Endnotes:
**
**private information
External links
C of E in Nova Scotia
(public domain)
* ttp://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp00720 National Portrait Gallery
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Colin
1776 births
1847 deaths
People educated at Perth Academy
British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Maratha War
British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
British Army personnel of the Peninsular War
British Army lieutenant generals
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knights of the Military Order of Max Joseph
Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree
Recipients of the Army Gold Cross
Recipients of the Waterloo Medal
Governors of the Colony of Nova Scotia
West India Regiment officers
35th Regiment of Foot officers
65th Regiment of Foot officers
72nd Highlanders officers
78th Highlanders officers
Coldstream Guards officers
General Officers Commanding, Ceylon
Governors of British Ceylon
Burials at St James's Church, Piccadilly
British people in colonial India