Donald Campbell

Donald Campbell (1751 – 5 June 1804), of Barbreck, Argyll, was a Scottish traveller in India and the Middle East.

Life Campbell was captain of a Cavalry regiment stationed in the Carnatic Sultanate. On his way over to India, he was shipwrecked while on the way to Madras. Soldiers of Hyder Ali, ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, captured him and he was imprisoned in Nagara, Karnataka, chained to a man named Hall. The latter died and his body was left, chained to Campbell, for several days. When General Matthew approached, Campbell was released so he could participate in negotiations on behalf of Hyder's General Hyat Singh. Despatched to Bombay and Madras, he travelled, by sea and land, and in Calcutta negotiated with Warren Hastings. Afterward he visited Madras and China, and returned to England in 1785.

He also published Letter to the Marquis of Lorn on the Present Times (London, 1798), protesting party factions in connection with the war with France.

Campbell died at Hutton, Essex, on 5 June 1804.