Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 08.djvu/355

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

gaged during the pursuit of Masséna and was present at Fuentes de Onoro. He obtained the post of assistant quartermaster-general at the headquarters of the army in the Peninsula, at Wellington's special request, in the spring of 1812, and acted in that capacity till the end of the Peninsular war, 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 nine general actions, for which he received a cross and six clasps. On 4 June 1814 he was promoted colonel in the army by brevet, and on 25 July made a captain and lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream guards. He was also appointed assistant quartermaster-general at the Horse Guards, and made a K.C.B., 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; he held the post throughout Wellington's residence at Paris, from 1815–18. He then exchanged his company in the guards for the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 65th regiment, which he held until he was promoted major-general in 1825. He held the command of the southern district for some years and in 1833 was appointed lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. In 1839 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 1834–6, and of 72nd foot 1836 till death. In June 1847 he returned to England, and on 13 June he died, being buried in the church of St. James's, Piccadilly.

[The only full memoir of Sir Colin Campbell is to be found in A Memorial History of the Campbells of Melfort (pp. 21–6), by M. O. C. (Margaret Olympia Campbell), London, 1882; private information.]

H. M. S.

CAMPBELL, Sir COLIN, Lord Clyde (1792–1863), field-marshal, eldest son of Colin Macliver, a carpenter in Glasgow, and Agnes Campbell, of the family of the Campbells of Islay, was born at Glasgow on 20 Oct. 1792. He was educated at the expense of his mother's brother, Colonel John Campbell, and was by him introduced to the Duke of York, as a candidate for a commission in the army, in 1807. The commander-in-chief cried out, ‘What, another of the clan!’ and a note was made of his name as Colin Campbell, and when the boy was about to protest, his uncle checked him and told him that Campbell was a good name to fight under. On 26 May 1808 he was gazetted an ensign in the 9th regiment, and sailed with the 2nd battalion of that regiment, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel John Cameron, for Portugal, with the expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley. He was first under fire at the battle of Roliça, and was subsequently present at Vimeiro, and then served with his regiment in Sir John Moore's advance to Salamanca, and the retreat to Corunna. He served with the first battalion of the 9th regiment in the expedition to Walcheren, where he was attacked with the fever of the district, which troubled him all through his life, and in 1810 joined the 2nd battalion of his regiment at Gibraltar. He had been promoted lieutenant on 28 Jan. 1809, and commanded the two flank companies of the 9th at the battle of Barossa, where his gallantry attracted the notice of General Graham, afterwards Lord Lynedoch, who never forgot him. He was then attached by Lieutenant-general Colin Campbell to the Spanish army under Ballesteros, and served with the Spaniards until December 1811, when he rejoined the 2nd battalion of his regiment in time to share in the glorious defence of Tarifa. In January 1813 he joined the 1st battalion of the 9th, under the command of his old chief, Colonel John Cameron [q. v.] His regiment formed part of Graham's corps, in which Campbell served at the battle of Vittoria and the siege of San Sebastian. On 17 July 1813 Campbell led the right wing of his regiment in the attack on the fortified convent of San Bartholomé, and was mentioned in despatches, and on 25 July he led the forlorn hope in the unsuccessful attempt to storm the fortress itself. ‘It was in vain,’ says Napier, ‘that Lieutenant Campbell, breaking through the tumultuous crowd with the survivors of his chosen detachment, mounted the ruins—twice he ascended, twice he was wounded, and all around him died’ (Peninsular War, book xxi. ch. iii.) For his gallant conduct Campbell was recommended for promotion by Sir Thomas Graham, and on 9 Nov. 1813 he was gazetted to a company without purchase in the 60th rifles. Before, however, he left the 9th, Campbell again distinguished himself. He left his quarters in San Sebastian before his wounds were healed or the doctors gave him leave, and headed the night attack of his regiment