Coach panel of Major General Sir James Campbell, KCB
A coach panel, c.1822-35, painted on a dark green ground with the differenced arms of Campbell of Auchenbreck:
Gyronny of eight or and sable within a bordure compony ermine and vert, in the fess point a gold cross pendant from a ribbon gules fringed azure [for Fuentes d’Onoro] on a chief a representation of the Castle of Badajos proper standing on a mount vert inscribed with the word ‘Badajos’ in gold; on a canton of the first an elephant proper and over it the word ‘Argaum’ [here omitted]. The sinister crest, A dexter hand proper holding a spur or; the dexter crest, A demi lion gules holding a banner with the insignia of the 94th Regiment of Foot above the word ‘Peninsula’; with supporters, Dexter, A soldier of the 94th Regiment of Foot; Sinister, A horse, saddled and bridled, both proper. The motto ’Forget Not’. Pendant beneath the arms, Dexter, The Badge of the Order of the Bath; Sinister, The Badge of the Order of the Tower and the Sword of Portugal.
The arms are of Sir James Campbell (1773?-1835), army officer and colonial governor. Having entered the army in the 1790s he joined the 94th Regiment in Madras in 1802 as a captain, serving under Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington). He distinguished himself in the Indian wars, being mentioned in dispatches and being promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by 1804.
In 1810 he was ordered to Portugal where he commanded the 94th at Cadiz and later that year at the battle of Fuentes d’Onoro. The following year he commanded the regiment at the siege of Badajoz (represented on his arms as an honour of augmentation) and again at the battle of Salamanca where he was wounded. At the battle of Vitoria he commanded his regiment for the last time when he was severely wounded, returning to England in 1813.
He was installed as a Companion of the Bath (CB) in 1813 and a Knight of the Tower and Sword of Portugal the following year (badges of the two orders shown pendant beneath his arms) and received a gold cross and one clasp for Fuentes d’Onoro, Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, Salamanca and Vitoria (shown in the centre of the shield). Owing to a technicality he was not awarded a KCB (Knight Cross of the Order of the Bath) until 1822, having by then been made Major-General.
In 1817 James Campbell married Lady Dorothea Cuffe, younger daughter of the 1st Earl of Desart, and from 1825 to 1833 he was Governor of Grenada. He died in 1835.
The arms, with honorary augmentations, were granted in 1816, and this panel dates from between 1822, when he was made a Knight of the Bath, and 1835.
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