Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Campbell, James (1773?-1835)
CAMPBELL, Sir JAMES (1773?–1835), general, entered the army as an ensign in the 1st royals, and was promoted lieutenant on 20 March 1794 in the same regiment, and captain into the 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch on 6 Sept. 1794. Campbell joined the 42nd at Gibraltar, and was engaged in the capture of Minorca by Lieutenant-general the Hon. Sir Charles Stuart in 1798. On 3 Jan. 1799 he was promoted major into the Argyle Fencibles, then stationed in Ireland; but on 7 April 1802 he exchanged for a captaincy in the 94th regiment, which he joined at Madras in September 1802, and with which he remained continuously until obliged to leave on account of wounds received at the battle of Vittoria in 1813. His first services were in the Mahratta war under Major-general the Hon. Arthur Wellesley, whose force he joined at Trichinopoly in January 1803, after a forced march of 984 miles. He greatly distinguished himself throughout the war; he was specially thanked for his services at the battle of Argaum, he led the centre attack on the fortress of Gawil Ghur, and headed the stormers of the inner fort, and was again mentioned in despatches; he forced the enemy's outposts and batteries at Chandore, and for a short period towards the close of the war commanded a brigade (Wellington Supplementary Despatches, iv. 291, 299). He was specially rewarded by being allowed batta for the rank of major, to which he had been gazetted on 4 July 1803, though the information did not reach India until the war was over. The order was dated 29 Aug. 1804, and he was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 27 Oct. 1804. In October 1807 the men of the 94th regiment, which was then the most effective in India, were drafted into other regiments, and the officers and headquarters under Campbell returned to England, and were stationed in Jersey, where, by vigorous recruiting, the regiment soon completed its numbers, and in January 1810 it was ordered to Portugal, and from there to Cadiz. At that place he commanded a brigade, and for some time the garrison, but was ordered again to Lisbon in September 1810, when the 94th regiment was brigaded with the 1st brigade of the 3rd or fighting division under Picton, and Campbell, as senior colonel, assumed the command of the brigade until the arrival of Major-general the Hon. Charles Colville on 14 Oct. 1810. Under him the 94th regiment served in all the engagements in the pursuit after Masséna and at the battle of Fuentes de Onoro, and in December 1811, when Colville took the command of the 4th division, Campbell again assumed the command of the brigade, which he held at the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, the storming of Badajoz, when, owing to the wounds of Picton and Kempt, he commanded the 3rd division, which took the castle and thus the city, and at the battle of Salamanca, where he was wounded, and he did not again surrender the command of the brigade to General Colville until June 1813. At the battle of Vittoria he only commanded his regiment, and was very severely wounded early in the action, and he had in consequence to return to England and leave the 94th for the first time since he joined it in India in 1802. His wound prevented him from again seeing service, but he received some rewards for his long service. He was promoted colonel on 4 June 1813, and made a C.B. and K.T.S. in 1814, and received a gold cross and one clasp for Fuentes de Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca, and Vittoria. A regulation had been made on the extension of the order of the Bath in January 1815, that only officers with a cross and two clasps should receive the K.C.B., which excluded Campbell; but both Lord Wellington and Lord Bathurst felt the hardship of this rule, which excluded such men as Campbell, and included many who had only been present and not much engaged at a greater number of battles; and in a letter dated 28 Feb. 1815 Lord Bathurst, the secretary of state, specially proposed to make five most distinguished officers, headed by Colonel Campbell, K.C.B. (ib. ix. 581). The project was not, however, carried out, and he was not made a K.C.B. until 3 Dec. 1822. Sir James Campbell saw no more active service. On 18 March 1817 he married Lady Dorothea Cuffe, younger daughter of the first Earl of Desart; on 12 Aug. 1819 he was promoted major-general, and in 1830 was made colonel of the 74th, and in 1834 of the 94th regiment. He died at Paris on 6 May 1835.
[Royal Military Calendar; Wellington Despatches and Supplementary Despatches; Gent. Mag. July 1835.]Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.51
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 363 | ii | 4 f.e. | Campbell, Sir James (1773?-1835): after major-general insert from 1825 to 1833 was governor of Grenada |
| for 1830 read 1831 | |||
| 3 f.e. | for 74th read 94th and for 94th read 74th |