Archibald Campbell ( British Army officer ) Major - General Sir Archibald Campbell KB ( 21 August 1739 – 31 March 1791 ) served as Governor of Jamaica and Madras . He was a major Scottish landowner , Heritable Usher of the White Rod for Scotland and a Member of Parliament for the UK Parliament constituency . Birth . Archibald was baptized 24 August 1739 at Inveraray , Scotland . He was the second son of James Campbell ( 1706 – 1760 ) 3rd of Tuerechan ( 8th Chief of Tearlach , descended from Clan Campbell of Craignish ) , Commissary of the Western Isles of Scotland , and Elizabeth ( d . 1790 ) , daughter of James Fisher , Provost of Inveraray . He grew up with his family at Dunderave Castle , and enjoyed the patronage of both Archibald Campbell , 3rd Duke of Argyll and Henry Dundas , 1st Viscount Melville . Early career . Educated at Glasgow University , and afterwards at the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich . In 1758 , he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers . He served with them in the Seven Years ' War and was wounded at the Siege of Quebec . He participated in a number of raids along the coast of France , as well as in expeditions in the West Indies . A decade later , in 1768 , Colonel Campbell , was made Chief Engineer of the British East India Company at Bengal , and was successfully employed by the company to head the works on Fort William in Calcutta . In Calcutta , Campbell laid the foundation of his wealth . With Captain Henry Watson , he privately invested in a dockyard at Kidderpore , and the two men acted as contractors for building and repairing ships until the government bought their concern . He also made a fortune trading in silk . Campbell used his wealth to become a major landowner in his native Argyll . He spent over £30 , 000 purchasing the estates of Danna , Inverneill , Knap , Taynish , and Ulva . He also purchased the houses of Inverkeithing and Queensferry . In 1774 , after an unusually bitter electoral battle with Colonel James Masterton ( 1715 – 1777 ) , of Newton , Colonel Archibald Campbell ( now styled ' of Inverneill ' ) became the Member of Parliament for the UK Parliament constituency , aided by his guardian , Viscount Melville . James Boswell acted as Campbell ' s legal advisor . Capture in America . Following his exciting electoral victory , Colonel Campbell left his elder brother , Sir James Campbell ( 1737 – 1805 ) of Killean , to keep his parliamentary seat warm and sailed for America in command of the 71st Regiment of Foot , Fraser ' s Highlanders , where the American Revolutionary War was in progress . In 1776 , after a battle aboard a vessel in Boston Harbor , Campbell was captured by the Americans and held prisoner until 1778 . Campbell ' s capture coincided with the British capture of the American Patriot hero Ethan Allen and the American General Charles Lee . Rumours spread that they were being mistreated by the British , which had a direct effect on Campbell . In February 1777 , from Concord Jail an outraged Campbell complained to Viscount Howe of his situation . There then ensued complaints and correspondence between Howe and Washington on Campbell ' s behalf . By the following month Washington intervened and Congress protested that it had not intended to cause undue suffering to Campbell . By May , Campbell was living at the jailer ' s tavern , a marked improvement to his previous solitary confinement . Soon afterwards he was granted total freedom within the confine of the town of Concord , and it should be noted that during these years as a prisoner of war he was able to purchase the Knap estate back in Argyll . On 6 May , 1778 , he was finally released in exchange for the patriot hero , Ethan Allen . Battle of Savannah . Six months after his release , Campbell was ordered to lead 3 , 000 men from New York to Georgia , and in late December his army won the Battle of Savannah , followed by another victory at Augusta , Georgia . Contemporaries on both sides paid tribute to the humanity and restraint shown by Campbell . The American patriot Alexander Green , one of Lee ' s Legion and aide - de - camp to Major - General Nathanael Greene referred to Campbell ' s concern for the civil population and lack of bitterness towards his former captors . He also revealed how the Patriot ' s feared Campbell as a commander of great ability . Greene related of Campbell : He became provisional governor of Georgia then and named Jacques Marcus Prevost his lieutenant and successor before returning to England . Marriage . Returning to England , in July 1779 , he married Amelia ( 1755 – 1813 ) , daughter of Allan Ramsay of Kinkell , Principal Painter in Ordinary to George III . Amelia Campbell ' s mother , Margaret ( 1726 – 1782 ) , was the eldest daughter of Sir Alexander Lindsay of Evelick and Hon . Amelia Murray , the sister of Amelia Campbell ' s influential great uncle and guardian , William Murray , 1st Earl of Mansfield . Mrs Campbell was the niece of Admiral Sir John Lindsay , and by him a first cousin of Dido Elizabeth Belle . Governor of Jamaica . At a time of great importance , Campbell ( now a Major - General in the army ) was appointed Governor of Jamaica in 1782 . The British forces in America were faring ill : the French had joined the insurgents and threatened the British West India Islands , of which they captured Tobago , St . Eustatius , St . Kitts , Nevis and Montserrat . But Campbell laid his plans so well . He was so successful in raising native troops , and was so untiring in his vigilance that the French did not dare attack Jamaica without re - inforcements . At the same time , Campbell did what he could to assist the British troops in America by sending them information , re - inforcements and supplies . By lending some of his troops to serve as marines , he materially aided Admiral Rodney in his great victory over François Joseph Paul de Grasse at the Battle of the Saintes , saving Jamaica from a French invasion . Campbell ' s wife , Amelia , and her sister , only just managed to join him in Jamaica . The crossing was perilous and their convoy came under fire from a joint French and Spanish fleet , and their ship was the only one to get through . On returning from Jamaica , Campbell was awarded as Knight of the Order of the Bath . Governor of Madras . In India , Madras was exhausted after the war against Mysore , and no serious military operations were undertaken until renewed hostilities against that state became inevitable at the end of 1789 . In 1786 , Campbell , who was now a well - known and highly respected figure , was appointed Commander - in - Chief and Governor of Madras . Throughout his term of office , the country had a rest from the devastating wars , and so he devoted himself to the development of peaceful institutions . He founded a Military Board which absorbed the duties of the Committee of Works ; a Hospital Board , a Board of Revenue and a Board of Trade . He reorganized the Police , established a Stock Exchange and a Bank . He built an Astronomical observatory and constituted an Orphan Asylum . In fact , there was hardly a department of the civil administration in which he did not labour to secure improvement and order . Madras sustained a serious loss when , overcome by illness , he was forced to leave India in February 1789 , retiring the post of governor from England in 1790 . Final years . On returning home , he acquired the office of Usher of the White Rod . The Institution of Royal Engineers described Campbell as " the most brilliant of the engineers who served in India during the eighteenth century " . Following a cold caught coming up from Scotland , he died the following year , 31 March 1791 , at his newly purchased London home on Upper Grosvenor Street , bought from the Duke of Montrose . He was only fifty two . His fortune , land and political titles passed to his two brothers , and his wife was given £25 , 000 . Campbell and his wife died without children , and they were both buried at Westminster Abbey next to Handel ' s Monument in Poets ' Corner . Also buried there was his nephew , Lt . - General Sir James Campbell of Inverneill , and his wife ' s kinsmen , the Earl of Mansfield and Admiral Lindsay ) . Images . He sat for thirteen sittings from January to May 1790 for a portrait by artist George Romney . Romney produced several versions of the final portrait , the principal one was bought for 70 guineas by Lady Campbell from Romney via a forwarding agent in 1791 , which is now owned by the National Army Museum in London ( FDA - 1970 - 12 - 13 ) - it was until December 2008 on display as part of its permanent display on the American Revolutionary War . Three other copies are attested , one of which is now displayed in the National Gallery of Art , Washington .