Memorial to Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell (1753-1784)” by Charles Peart, Bombay (Mumbai)

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Memorial to Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell (1753-1784)

Charles Peart (1759-1798)

1785

Marble

St Thomas Cathedral

Bombay (Mumbai)

According to Roscoe, Charles Peart was trained at the Royal Academy Schools from 1781. After leaving he worked as a modeller for Josiah Wedgwood and the Derby porcelain factory. Later he was employed by the Marquess of Buckingham, at Stowe. One of his first large commissions, this one may have been obtained through the influence of his wife, Elizabeth, whose sister’s husband, Mr Woodcock, worked for the East India Company. [Commentary continues below.]

Photograph and text by Tim Willasey-Wilsey.

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The monument shows life-sized figures of Death and Hope flanking an urn on a tall pedestal. Lieutenant-Colonel John Campbell died at Bombay on 23rd March 1784 from a combination of consumption and exhaustion at the age of 31. This was hardly surprising as he had suffered the appalling hardships of the siege of Mangalore. On 9th March 1783 British troops had seized the fortress of Mangalore from the forces of Tippoo Sultan. Mangalore on the Malabar (west) coast of India was essential as a resupply base for Company and Crown forces. Tippoo’s siege (assisted by the French) began in the May and lasted for eight months. In January 1784 disease and starvation obliged Campbell to sign a surrender which allowed his men safe passage out of the town. Of the 1883 men fit for duty in May 1783 only 24 officers and 208 men were still fit to fight, mostly from the 42nd Regiment, the famous Black Watch. 749 men had been killed or wounded. Conditions had been dismal with the defenders having to eat rats, snakes and frogs and with scurvy, fever and dysentery running rife amongst the defenders. In March the Treaty of Mangalore was signed between Tippoo Sultan and the East India Company which allowed all remaining prisoners to be released.

Campbell had earlier served in Canada with the 7th Foot (where he had been taken prisoner) and America with the 74th before joining the 100th Foot which arrived in Bombay in January 1782. His monument in St Thomas Cathedral was erected by orders of the Directors of the East India Company. He was clearly a remarkable soldier and his gallant defence of Mangalore shines by comparison with the otherwise lamentable campaign waged against Tippoo who would remain a thorn in the side of the Company until his defeat and death at Seringapatam in 1799.

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