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Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde

Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde, GCB, KSI (20 October 1792 – 14 August 1863), was a British Army officer. After serving in the Peninsular War and the War of 1812, he commanded the 98th Regiment of Foot during the First Opium War and then commanded a brigade during the Second Anglo-Sikh War. He went on to command the Highland Brigade at the Battle of Alma and with his "thin red line of Highlanders" he repulsed the Russian attack on Balaclava during the Crimean War. At an early stage of the Indian Mutiny, he became Commander-in-Chief, India and, in that role, he relieved and then evacuated Lucknow and, after attacking and decisively defeating Tatya Tope at the Second Battle of Cawnpore, captured Lucknow again. Whilst still commander-in-chief he dealt with the "White Mutiny" among East India Company troops, and organised the army sent east in the Second Opium War.

The Lord Clyde

20 October 1792
Glasgow, Scotland

14 August 1863(1863-08-14) (aged 70)
Chatham, Kent, England

1808–1860

Early life[edit]

Campbell was born Colin Macliver, the eldest of the four children of John Macliver, a cabinetmaker in Glasgow, and Agnes Macliver (née Campbell).[1] His mother and one of his twin sisters died while he was still a boy. His only brother was killed fighting in the Peninsular War.[2] After he was educated at the Glasgow Grammar School, his uncle, Major John Campbell, took over his care and sent him to the Royal Military and Naval Academy at Gosport.[3]


The most oft-quoted story explaining Campbell's name change is that upon Colin's entry into the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot as an ensign in 1808, his uncle presented him to the Duke of York, who assumed the boy's surname was Campbell and had him enlisted in the Army under that name. This story was first promulgated during the Crimean War. The press were fascinated to find why he had changed his name, and rumours abounded that he was in fact the illegitimate son of Major Campbell, so Peter Macliver, a journalist and Colin's cousin, invented the story about the Duke of York. Not only was it highly unusual for an ensign to meet the commander-in-chief, the Duke of York, but Campbell was on the Isle of Wight, not in London when commissioned. Furthermore, General Robert Brownrigg, colonel of the regiment of the 9th Foot, wrote to the Duke of York prior to Campbell's commission, referring to the fifteen-year-old boy as "Mr Colin Campbell". Evidently, Campbell changed his name before being gazetted.[4]

Military career[edit]

Junior officer[edit]

Campbell was commissioned as an ensign in the 9th Regiment of Foot on 26 May 1808.[5] His first experience of war was under Sir Arthur Wellesley at the Battle of Vimeiro on 21 August 1808 during the Peninsular War.[1] His battalion remained in Portugal and served under Sir John Moore during his foray into Spain, and subsequent retreat to Corunna. His battalion was not engaged at the Battle of Corunna in January 1809, but remained in reserve.[1] Promoted to lieutenant on 15 July 1809,[6] he took part in the disastrous Walcheren Campaign in Autumn 1809 and contracted malaria there.[1]


Campbell was posted to Gibraltar in 1810 and fought at the Battle of Barrosa in March 1811, taking command of the 9th Foot's flank companies as the senior officer not hors de combat. His bravery was noted by General Sir Thomas Graham. Serving in his battalion's light company, he fought at the Battle of Vitoria in June 1813 and at the Siege of San Sebastián. Here, in the first assault on 25 July 1813, he led the forlorn hope and was wounded twice while leading a storming party.[1] He led the 9th Foot's light company at the Battle of the Bidassoa in October 1813 where he was wounded for the third time.[1] He was promoted to captain in the 7th Battalion 60th (Royal American) Regiment on 3 November 1813. Sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia, he was too late to see action in the War of 1812 and soon returned to Europe suffering from his wounds.[7] Due to the contraction of the army after Battle of Waterloo, the number of Royal American battalions was cut back drastically. To avoid being put on half-pay Campbell transferred to the 21st Royal North British Fusiliers on 26 November 1818.[8] The regiment was sent first to Barbados and then to Demerara, where Campbell became aide-de-camp to the governor. His part in quelling the slave rebellion in Demerara in August 1823 is hazy. He is not recorded as joining in the reprisals against slaves pursued by his commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Leahy, but he was on the court-martial which sentenced Reverend John Smith, the suspected instigator of the revolt, to death. He purchased his majority on 26 November 1825.[9]

Family[edit]

Campbell never married, or fathered any children.[27]

(2015). Victoria's Scottish Lion: The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde. UK: History Press. p. 496. ISBN 978-0-75095-685-7.

Greenwood, Adrian

Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals, 1736–1997: A Biographical Dictionary. Barnsley: Leo Cooper.  0-85052-696-5.

ISBN

Wheatley, Henry (2011). London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions. Cambridge University Press.  978-1108028080.

ISBN

Anonymous (1858). . George Vickers.

Narrative of the Indian Revolt from Its Outbreak to the Capture of Lucknow by Sir Colin Campbell

Campbell, Colin (1851). Memorandum of the Part Taken by the Third Division of the Army of the Punjaub at the Battle of Chillianwala. Ridgway.

Shadwell, Lawrence (1881). . Blackwood.

The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde

, ed. (1911). "Clyde, Colin Campbell, Baron" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 571–572.

Chisholm, Hugh

. UK National Archives.

"Archival material relating to Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde"