Donald Campbell (1751 – 5 June 1804), of Barbreck, Argyll, was a Scottish traveller in India and the Middle East.

Life

Campbell was captain of a Cavalry regiment stationed in the Carnatic Sultanate. On his way over to India, he was shipwrecked while on the way to Madras. Soldiers of Hyder Ali, ruler of the

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in South India, southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary allia ...

, captured him and he was imprisoned in Nagara, Karnataka, chained to a man named Hall. The latter died and his body was left, chained to Campbell, for several days. When General Matthew approached, Campbell was released so he could participate in negotiations on behalf of Hyder's General Hyat Singh. Despatched to Bombay and Madras, he travelled, by sea and land, and in Calcutta negotiated with

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-Genera ...

. Afterward he visited Madras and China, and returned to England in 1785. In 1795, in London, he published ''A Journey over land to India...by Donald Campbell of Barbreck'', based in part on the letters he wrote to his son,

Frederick William Campbell Frederick William Campbell (15 June 1867 – 19 June 1915) was a Canadian Army, Canadian Army Officer, and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to Un ...

. A new edition appeared in 1796, in quarto, like the first; in the same year an abridged version was published, in octavo, with the title ''Narrative of Adventures'' and a preface signed' 'S. J.' The third part of the travels, relating to Campbell's shipwreck and imprisonment, was published as a

Chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

, ''Shipwreck and Captivity of D. C.'' (London, 1800). He also published ''Letter to the Marquis of Lorn on the Present Times'' (London, 1798), protesting party factions in connection with the war with France. Campbell died at Hutton, Essex, on 5 June 1804. s:Dictionary of Indian Biography/Campbell, Donald

References

1751 births 1804 deaths Scottish explorers 18th-century Scottish people Scottish travel writers People from Argyll and Bute 18th-century Scottish writers 19th-century Scottish writers People of the Scottish Enlightenment {{Scotland-writer-stub