LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

1366, Private Atcheson Hutchinson CAMPBELL — 13th Light Dragoons

Also recorded as "Donald". Atcheson or Aitcheson? Hutchinson or Hutchison?

Birth & early life

Born in Belfast, Co. Down c.1830.

Enlistment

Enlisted at Dundalk on the 2nd of November 1849.

Age: 19.

Height: 5' 9".

Trade: Grocer.

Service [1]

Tried by a District Court-martial on the 10th of March 1855 for "being asleep on his post" and sentenced to 25 lashes and 30 days' imprisonment, with hard labour.

Served at Eupatoria.

From Private to Corporal: 28th of January 1858.

Sent to the Riding Establishment at Maidstone on the 27th of September 1858 and rejoined the regiment on the 13th of June 1859.

Confined, 6th-26th of July 1859, reduced to Private by a Regtl. Court-martial at Dublin on the 19th of July, and sentenced to 42 days' imprisonment in Dill Prison for being "Drunk on duty."

Discharge & pension [1]

Discharged, "time expired", from Edinburgh on the 16th of February 1861, Conduct, "good".

In possession of one Good Conduct badge.

Twice tried by Court-martial.

Service [2]

He re-enlisted into the Royal Horse Artillery as No. 2202 on the 13th of April 1861. He was described as being of a fresh complexion, with blue eyes and auburn hair.

Discharge & pension [2]

After 9 years and 3 months further service he was discharged at Dublin on the 19th of July 1870, "at his own request, after completion of 21 years service."

Served a total of 21 years 3 months.

In Turkey and the Crimea 2 years. India, 5 years and 4 months.

Aged 39 years on discharge. Awarded a pension of 8d. per day.

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol and the Turkish medal.

Commemorations

He was shown in the 1877 list of members of the Balaclava Commemoration Society, but not in the 1879 revised list.

Attended the Annual Dinners in 1890, 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911.

He received help from the Roberts Fund and was present at the Fleet Street offices of Mr. T.H. Roberts for the Jubilee celebrations held there in June of 1897 and signed the testimonial given to Mr. Roberts on that occasion as "Donald" Campbell. (There is a copy in the" Memoirs" file.)

Likenesses

Is this Corporal Campbell or James Cameron? Illustrated London News, 30th October 1875.

(Click on image to enlarge)

There is a portrait of "Corporal Campbell" in the Illustrated London News, 30th of October 1875, but this may in fact be that of 412, James Cameron, 13th Light Dragoons. Although it is credited as 1346 Aitcheson [sic?] Campbell of the 13th (who indeed ranked as a Corporal), Campbell was not shown on the list of those attending the Alexandra Palace Fete and Banquet on the 25th of October 1875. All the other portraits that appeared in the Illustrated London News of the time are of men who were present. (See copy of this in the 13th Hussar file.)

Life after service

He first resided in the Belfast Pension District, and in the West London Pension District from the 4th of August 1874.

Death & burial

Died on the 6th of August 1912 at 3, Gassiot Road, Streatham, London, aged 79 years, the cause of death being "Senile decay". He was shown as a "Pensioned Gunner of the Royal Horse Artillery". His daughter, Mrs. U.H. Melville, of 49, Webbs Road, Battersea, was present at, and the informant of, his death. (See copy of his death certificate in the 13th Hussar "Certificates File.)

He was buried in a common grave (No. 32204, Square 46) in the South Metropolitan Cemetery, Norwood, on the 12 of August 1912. No head-stone was erected. (See photograph of his grave-area in the 13th Hussar file.)

From the Weekly Despatch, 16th of October 1904:

In reporting the circumstances in which a number of the survivors were living the article showed that... A.H. Campbell — in business at the Elephant and Castle, London, lost his only son in the Boer War.

Whether or not this was the same man is not at the moment (1987) confirmed, but a No. 3050 Cpl. W.H. Campbell of the 13th Hussars died of wounds received at Witbank in the Orange River Colony on the 26th of October 1901.

The Regimental History records the following:

October 30th — The death from wounds received in action at Whitbank, O.R.C., of Corporal W. H. Campbell, was reported on this day. This non-commissioned officer, whose name was mentioned in the last despatches of Lord Kitchener, dated the 23rd of June 1902, came out with a draft in March of 1900. Before joining the regiment, however, he was sent from the Moori River to the South African Light Horse, in which corps he held the rank of Sergeant. (The Cpl. W.H. Campbell referred to was awarded the Queen's South Africa medal with clasps for Belfast, C.C. O.F.S. and Lang's Nek, the medal being sent on the 27 of January 1903.)

[PB: Is the parenthesis part of the original quotation, or EJB's comment?]