Sir Colin Campbell

Campbell, Sir Colin

Sir Colin Campbell, soldier, colonial administrator, lieutenant-governor of NS 1834-40 (b in Scot 1776; d at London, Eng 13 June 1847). Scion of a Highland family with a strong military tradition, Campbell ran away from home at age 16, served as a midshipman and then a soldier with his close friend the duke of Wellington in Spain and at the Battle of Waterloo, and rose to the rank of lieutenant-governor. In 1834 he became lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia. He soon clashed with the Assembly over the control of the crown revenues and with prominent reformers such as Joseph HOWE. In 1839 the Assembly appealed to London, which sent Charles Poulett Thomson (Baron SYDENHAM), then governor general of British North America, to investigate. Thomson advised Campbell to add more reformers to both the legislative and executive councils, but Campbell refused and in September 1840 he was replaced by the more conciliatory Lord Falkland. He went on to be governor of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) 1841-47. Campbell was admired, even by many reformers, for his integrity, but he was too conservative to govern Nova Scotia successfully by the 1830s.