Colin Campbell (died 26 January 1752) was a Scottish astronomer.
He grew up in Jamaica and died there in Kingston in 1752. He matriculated at Glasgow University, in 1720. He was invested as a fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) on 7 November 1734. He studied Newton's theory of the diminution of gravity away from the equator. He made astronomical observations, in correspondence with Edmund Halley.Science in the British colonies of America, Raymond Phineas Stearns, University of Illinois Press, 1970, He held the office of Member of the council (Jamaica) in 1742. After 1742, he sold his astronomical instruments to Alexander Macfarlane."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 In 1748, he lived at St. George Hanover Square, London.
In Jamaica, Campbell was a slaveholder and planter. In his will, Campbell bequeathed to his wife, Margaret Campbell, "the use and enjoyment of any of my Negroes at her own choice". In his will, he also bequeathed to his son, Colin, his "Negroes" at his two sugar plantations, Orange Bay and Fish River.
Family He was the son of Colonel John Campbell and Katherine Claiborne. He married Margaret Foster who died in London in 1786;National Archives, London, PROB 11/1142, will of Margaret Campbell, probated May 1786 they had children John Campbell b. 8 January 1735.Westminster City Archives, Saint Anne Soho, Baptisms, Vol. 2, February 1734/5 John Campbell left Jamaica in 1756 "owing to a bad state of health"Argyll & Bute Archives, MacTavish of Dunardry papers, Colin Campbell letter to cousin James Campbell of Kaims, at Isle of Bute, Scotland, 22 August 1757 but returned in 1767Campbell, 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) to dispose of the estates in order to clear his debts. Elizabeth Campbell born 15 December 1736.Westminster City Archives, Saint Anne Soho, Baptisms, Vol. 2, January 1736/7 Margaret Jane Campbell born a 6 January 1739.Westminster City Archives, St James Piccadilly, Baptisms, Vol. 3, January 1739 She died in Surrey in September 1771.National Archives, London, will of Margaret Jane Campbell, PROB 11/970, proved 12 September 1771. Colin Campbell1 b. a 1747.Not named in 1746 will of Henry Barham, his mother's stepfather, but named in the 1748 will of his father 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.General Evening Post, London, 2 November 1793, news item
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;
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