Baron Clyde Colin Campbell

Colin Campbell, Baron Clyde 1792-1863, British general. He commanded troops in China (1842-46) and India (1847-54) and in the famous victory at Balaklava (1854) in the Crimean War. For his services in India in suppressing the Indian Mutiny (1857) he was created baron in 1858. He was made a field marshal in 1862.

Campbell, Sir Colin, 1st Baron Clyde (1792–1863). Campbell was born in Glasgow and entered the army in 1807. He fought in many of the most celebrated campaigns of his era: the Peninsular War (1808–14); the Demerara insurrection (1823); the Opium War (1839–42); the second Sikh war (1848–9); and the Crimean War (1854), where he commanded a brigade at both Alma and Balaclava. However, he lacked connections and it took him thirty years to rise from captain to colonel; and another ten to become a general. On the outbreak of the mutiny in 1857, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Indian army and was principally responsible for putting down the rebellion and relieving the sieges of Lucknow and Cawnpore. He was knighted in 1849 and made a peer in 1858. He was nicknamed ‘Old Khabadar’ (Old Careful) in the Indian army for his cautious tactics, most notably at the relief of Lucknow.

David Anthony Washbrook