Colin Campbell (astronomer)

Colin Campbell FRS (died 26 January 1752 Kingston, Jamaica) was a Scottish astronomer.

He grew up in Jamaica. He matriculated at Glasgow University, in 1720. He was invested as a Fellow, Royal Society (F.R.S.) in 1733. He studied Newton's theory of the diminution of gravity away from the equator. He made astronomical observations, in correspondence with Edmund Halley.^[1] He held the office of Member of the Council [Jamaica] in 1742. After 1742, he sold his astronomical instruments to Alexander Macfarlane.^[2] He lived in 1748 at St. George Hanover Square, London.

Family

He was the son of Colonel John Campbell and Katherine Claiborne. He married Margaret Foster who died in London in 1786;^[3] they had children

• John Campbell b. 8 January 1735.^[4]

John Campbell left Jamaica in 1756 "owing to a bad state of health"^[5] but returned in 1767^[6] to dispose of the estates in order to clear his debts.

• Elizabeth Campbell b.15 December 1736.^[7]
• Margaret Jane Campbell b. a 6 January 1739.^[8] She died in Surrey in September 1771.^[9]
• Colin Campbell1 b. a 1747.^[10] He was a Lt. Colonel in the 1st Guards and died at Portman Square, London,in 1793 having contracted "the Dunkirk fever" while campaigning against the French in Flanders.^[11]

Works

• "An Account of Some Observations Made in London, by Mr. George Graham, F.R.S. and at Black-River in Jamaica, by Colin Campbell, Esq; F.R.S. concerning the Going of a Clock; In Order to Determine the Difference between the Lengths of Isochronal Pendulums in Those Places". Communicated by J. Bradley, M. A. Astr. Prof. Savill. Oxon. F.R.S. Phil. Trans. 1733 38:302-314; doi:10.1098/rstl.1733.0048

References

1. ^ Science in the British colonies of America, Raymond Phineas Stearns, University of Illinois Press, 1970, ISBN 9780252001208
2. ^ "The Jamaican Observatories of Colin Campbell, F.R.S. and Alexander Macfarlane, F.R.S.", Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, D. J. Bryden, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Apr., 1970), pp. 261-272
3. ^ National Archives, London, PROB 11/1142, will of Margaret Campbell, probated May 1786
4. ^ Westminster City Archives, Saint Anne Soho, Baptisms, Vol. 2, February 1734/5
5. ^ Argyll & Bute Archives, MacTavish of Dunardry papers, Colin Campbell letter to cousin James Campbell of Kaims, at Isle of Bute, Scotland, 22 August 1757
6. ^ Campbell, Marion, ‘Letters by The Packet’, Argyll & Bute library, 2004. John Campbell of Orange Bay to his father-in-law in Scotland, dated 4 June 1767 (Jamaica letters in the Kilberry papers)
7. ^ Westminster City Archives, Saint Anne Soho, Baptisms, Vol. 2, January 1736/7
8. ^ Westminster City Archives, St James Piccadilly, Baptisms, Vol. 3, January 1739
9. ^ National Archives, London, will of Margaret Jane Campbell, PROB 11/970, proved 12 September 1771.
10. ^ Not named in 1746 will of Henry Barham, his mother's stepfather, but named in the 1748 will of his father
11. ^ General Evening Post, London, 2 November 1793, news item

External links

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Name	Campbell, Colin
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Date of death	26 January 1752
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