Campbell, Sir Colin, Baron Clyde

(1792–1863)

   British soldier whose career extended from the Napoleonic Wars to the Indian Mutiny and into almost every corner of the British Empire. Born in Glasgow, he entered the British army at age 16 and first saw action in the Peninsular War at Ricola in August 1808. As lieutenant Campbell served with distinction at Barossa in 1811 and also fought at Vitoria and San Sebastián in 1813. After surviving the debacle of New Orleans in the Anglo-American War of 1812 and participating in suppression of the Demerara rising in British Guiana in 1823, Campbell was promoted to the rank of captain in 1823 and to a lieutenant-colonel in 1832. Real distinction came with service in the First Opium War, after which he was made a Commander of the Bath and the First Sikh War, which brought him a knighthood. In the Crimean War Campbell was promoted to major general and distinguished himself at Alma and Balaclava. Thus Campbell was already among the most celebrated military heroes of the Empire when in 1857 he was made commander-in-chief of British forces tasked with the suppression of the Indian Mutiny and ultimately contributed more than any individual to military victory and the restoration of political order. Campbell was made a peer, Baron Clyde, in 1858.

   FURTHER READING:

    Farwell, Byron. Queen Victoria ’ s Little Wars . London: W. W. Norton, 1972;

    Shadwell, L. S. Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood, 1881.

   CARL CAVANAGH HODGE