Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir James Campbell (c. 1773–1835) was a Scottish army officer and colonial governor.

Early life

He was son of Major-General Dugald Campbell of Auchinleck (1742–1809) and his wife Elizabeth Mackay. Campbell served from 1803 in the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

, under Arthur Wellesley.

Peninsular War

The

94th Regiment of Foot The 94th Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised as the Scotch Brigade in October 1794. It was renumbered as the 94th Regiment of Foot in December 1802 and disbanded in December 1818. The regiment was reformed in Decemb ...

in which he served had its troops drafted into other regiments, and Campbell, promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1804, returned to the United Kingdom with the other officers. Stationed in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

, the 94th recruited again. It was sent to Portugal in 1810, and was on garrison duty in Lisbon and then Cadiz, Campbell commanding it in a brigade of the 3rd Division under

Thomas Picton Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (24 August 175818 June 1815) was a British Army officer who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. According to the historian Alessandro Barbero, Picton was "respected for his courage and feared for his irascible t ...

. From October 1810 it was under

Charles Colville General Sir Charles Colville (7 August 1770 – 27 March 1843) was a British Army officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars. He was an ensign in 1781. He served in the West Indies from 1791 to 1797 and while serving there was promoted to li ...

, in the field and at the

battle of Fuentes de Oñoro In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), the British–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 stalema ...

in 1811. From the end of 1811, Colville having taken over the 4th Division, Campbell commanded the 94th, to the end of the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. He took command at the

Siege of Badajoz (1812) In the siege of Badajoz (16 March – 6 April 1812), also called the third siege of Badajoz, an Anglo-Portuguese Army under the Earl of Wellington (later the Duke of Wellington) besieged Badajoz, Spain, and forced the surrender of the F ...

of the 3rd Division, Picton and

James Kempt General Sir James Kempt, ( – 20 December 1854) was a British Army officer, who served in the Netherlands, Egypt, Italy, the Peninsula, and British North America during the Napoleonic Wars. He led a British brigade at the Battle of Waterloo and ...

being wounded. He was himself wounded, in command, at the

Battle of Salamanca The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of Arapiles) on 22July 1812 was a battle in which an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, ...

in 1812, and gave up brigade command to Colville in June 1813. He was then seriously wounded at the

Battle of Vitoria At the Battle of Vitoria (21 June 1813) a British, Portuguese and Spanish army under the Marquess of Wellington broke the French army under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan near Vitoria in Spain, eventually leadin ...

, commanding the 94th, and returned to England.

Later life

Campbell was acting

Governor of British Ceylon The governor of Ceylon was the representative in Ceylon of the British Crown from 1795 to 1948. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces in Ceylon. The governor was th ...

, appointed in 1822 and in post until 1824. He was succeeded by Edward Barnes. He was then Governor of Grenada, from 1826 to 1831.

Family

In 1817 Campbell married Lady Louisa Dorothea Cuffe, a younger daughter of Otway Cuffe, 1st Earl of Desart. Their fourth child, James Campbell (1822–1894), worked as an astronomer with Edmund Neville Nevill. Three daughters, Elizabeth Ann Louisa, Charlotte and Emily, survived their father.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, James 1770s births Year of birth uncertain 1835 deaths Governors of British Ceylon British expatriates in Sri Lanka 19th-century British people General Officers Commanding, Ceylon Governors of British Grenada