James Campbell of Grenada and Tobago

Brother of Alexander Campbell of Grenada (q.v.). He also had a brother Duncan Campbell, who has yet to be definitively identified among the various Duncan Campbells active in the Ceded Islands in the late 18th century. In Tobago, Jas. and Duncan Campbell were the original purchasers of: (a) Northeast division (St John parish) Lots nos. 5 and 6 (which became Anse Fourmi), which by 1773 were held by James Campbell alone; and (b) Queens Bay division (St Paul parish ) Lot 17 on 19/05/1769, which became part of the Inverawe estate; by 1773 the owners of this lot was shown as Campbell & Williamson (the partnership of George Campbell and Roderick Williamson, each of whom q.v.: Campbell and Williamson were also shown c. 1773 as the owners of Queens Bay division (St Paul parish) Lots no. 41 and 42, which had also been purchased by Roderick Williamson 15/05/1771). In addition, Duncan Campbell was the original purchaser of Queens Bay division (St Paul parish) Lots nos. 6-8 on 19/03/1767, which together with Lot 9 became the Argyle estate; by 1773 the owner of all 4 Lots was shown as James Campbell. Further, James Campbell was shown in 1773 as the owner of Queens Bay division (St Paul parish) Lots nos. 35 and 37 which had been purchased by John Sharpe on 15/05/1771 and became the Merchiston estate.

1. 'While brother James oversaw Alexander's properties in Grenada and Tobago, brother Duncan looked after his affairs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Both brothers also held prominent positions in local colonial government. Having been a member of the Grenada Council since 1775 and of the Tobago Assembly throughout the 1760s and the 1770s, James wielded considerable political influence; Duncan had served in the St. Vincent legislature since 1779... James Campbell held estates in Grenada, Tobago, Dominica, and St. Vincent, and served in the assemblies of Grenada and Tobago for much of the 1760s and 1770s, and later in the Councils of both colonies (Scots Magazine 59 (1797): 78.)'

2. 'In 1793 James Campbell claimed that he had spent the years between 1763 and 1791 in residence in the West Indies ( Letter to Henry Dundas, 7 December 1793 PRO, CO 101/33, Miscellaneous). James Campbell returned to Grenada in 1796 after the death of Alexander Campbell and continued his residence in the West Indies until his death at Argyle, Tobago in 1805. At the time of his death he was President of the Council of Tobago (Scots Magazine 68 (1806): 78.)'

3. 13 October [1805] At his estate of Argyll Tobago, aged 69, [death of] James Campbell Esq. President of the Council of that island.

4. Will of James Campbell formerly of the Island of Grenada late of the Island of Tobago West Indies but now residing in England (made 09/04/1794) was proved 11/01/1806. Under the will he left his estates in Grenada and Tobago 'except my man slave Jack [identified later in the will as 'my mullatto [sic] man servant Jack now residing with me in England'] a mullatta [sic] woman slave called Celia and her female mullatta [sic] child now about three years of age hereinafter manumitted' in trust to Alexander Campbell of the island of Grenada, Thomas Townsend formerly of Grenada but now residing at Southgate and Daniel Henry Rucker of the City of London to secure annuities including £100 p.a. to his half-sister Helen Nielson spinster of Greenock and £10 p.a. to Caroline Campbell daughter of Donald Campbell of Airds. He left £4000 to John and James Mackinnon, the sons of the Rev. John Mackinnon of Kilmodan; £2000 to James Campbell Stuart, son of James Broderick Stuart; £2000 to Archibald Alexander James Hinson son of Tudor Hinson of the Bahamas; £1500 to the three daughters [unnamed, their Christian names identified only by blanks] of Jane Campbell and James Broderick Stuart. He left £500 in trust for the daughter of Celia [identified as of Grenada and formerly his housekeeper], whose name he did not appear to know. He left his real estate to James Campbell of Ormsaig Argyllshire 'but now of the island of Grenada', the son of his brother of the half blood the late John Campbell of Ormsaig, failing whose heirs the property went his brother Alexander Campbell, with further contingent bequests of it to the McKinnon brothers and James Campbell Stuart, on the condition that any inheritor not of the name Campbell would change his name.

5. The executor of Jas. Campbell (Daniel H. Rucker) claimed the compensation for Inverawe (or Invera) and Argyle on Tobago in that capacity, apparently unsuccessfully. In light of the will above, this Jas. Campbell was clearly James Campbell of Grenada and Tobago (q.v.). The former property of Jas. Campbell in Tobago (the Argyle and Invera or Inverawe estates) was later advertised for sale in London 1821 by the Ruckers. Another man, James McKinnon Campbell, the brother of John Mckinnon Campbell (q.v.), who died in 1822, was described as of Ormaig and of Argyle and Inveraw[e] in Tobago in an advertisement for his creditors in 1827. These were clearly the sons of Rev. John Mackinnon, contingent beneficiaries under the will of James Campbell of Grenada and Tobago.

Mark Quintanilla, 'The World of Alexander Campbell: An Eighteenth-Century Grenadian Planter' Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Summer, 2003), p. 235; 'Tables showing the Lots in each Parish, numbered as originally granted - the original Grantee - the name of the Lot, or lots, if one has been acquired, and the present Possessor where there is one' and 'A Table, showing the Estates in cultivation in 1832, and their Owners, in 1832, copied from the list appended to Byres' map of that date, with those in cultivation in 1862', Henry Iles Woodcock, A History of Tobago (Ayr: Smith and Grant, 1867; new impression London: Frank Cass and Company Limited, 1971); John Fowler, A summary account of the present flourishing state of the respectable colony of Tobago in the British West Indies illustrated with a map of the island and a plan of its settlement, agreeably to the sales by his Majesty’s Commissioners (London: A Grant, 1774), pp. 46-47, 50-53; email from David Alston 14/08/2017 which details the children of John Campbell of Lossit's two marriages with multiple sources.

1. National Archives of Scotland, GD267/5/26: 1-36; Quintanilla, 'The World of Alexander Campbell', p. 247 and fn 72; J. Wilson & P Shaw, Cases decided in the House of Lords, on appeal from the courts of Scotland, 1825-1834, Volume 1 (Edinburgh & London, 1829), pp. 161-72.

2. ibid, p. 255 fn. 99.

3. Scots Magazine 68 (January 1806) p. 78.

4. PROB 11/1436/50. The will is indexed online by TNA to 'James Campbell of England.'

5. Edinburgh Gazette 3565 p. 216, announcement dated 31/07/1827; Edinburgh Gazette 5288 p. 476, announcements dated 28/10/1846.

We are grateful to Dr Sonia Baker and David Alston for their help compiling this entry.