Sir James Campbell, 1st Baronet

Lieutenant-General Sir James Campbell, 1st Baronet, GCH (1763 – 5 June 1819) was a British Army officer.

Campbell's father was Sir James Campbell of Inverneil (1737–1805), who was knighted in 1788, Gentleman Usher of the White Rod and Member of Parliament for the Stirling Burghs from 1780 to 1789. His mother was Jean (died 1805) was a daughter of John Campbell of Askomill, Argyllshire.

Campbell received his commission as an Ensign in the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Foot on 19 July 1780, was promoted to Lieutenant into the 94th Regiment of Foot on 5 December 1781, and at once exchanged into the 60th (Royal American) Regiment of Foot, with which he served during the last two campaigns of the American War of Independence. On the conclusion of peace, he was promoted to Captain in the 71st Regiment of (Highland) Foot (Fraser's) on 6 March 1783. He transferred to the 73rd (Perthshire) Regiment of Foot on 6 June 1787, which he joined in India, acting as aide-de-camp to his uncle Sir Archibald Campbell. After exchanging into the 19th Light Dragoons, Campbell served in the 1790, 1791, and 1792 campaigns of Lord Cornwallis against Tippu Sultan.

On 1 March 1794, Campbell was promoted to Major; he then returned to England, and on 17 November, was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Cheshire Fencibles. He served in the Channel Islands and in Ireland until 1800, when he was appointed assistant adjutant general at the Horse Guards; on 1 January 1801, he was promoted to Brevet Colonel and to Lieutenant-Colonel of the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot on 16 January 1804. In 1805, he was appointed adjutant-general of the force destined for the Mediterranean under Sir James Craig. He served there until 1813, being absent only during the Battle of Maida, and winning the confidence of all the generals who commanded in Sicily. On 17 September 1810, General Cavaignac managed to transport 3500 men across the Strait of Messina; he had one battalion posted on the cliffs, and the others disembarking, when Campbell, attacking with the 21st, repelled the disembarking battalions, and forced those already landed to surrender. Forty-three officers and over 800 men were captured, with a loss to the British regiment of only three men wounded. During his tenure of office in the Mediterranean, Campbell was promoted to Major-General on 25 April 1808, and Lieutenant-General on 4 June 1813. In 1814, he was ordered to take possession of the Ionian Islands. The French governor refused to surrender control until Campbell threatened to open fire. He remained in the Ionian Islands as governor and commander of the forces until 1815, when Sir Thomas Maitland was appointed Lord High Commissioner. A French writer alleged that Campbell had acted despotically, abolishing the university, the academy, and the press established by the French.

Campbell returned to England in 1816, was apoointed a GCH in 1817 and a baronet on 3 October 1818. He died on 5 June 1819, and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 19 June. As he left no children, his baronetcy became extinct.

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