Campbell, Thomas

Two holograph manuscripts, 1830-1. The first is a six verse poem written for The Metropolitan . The second is a draft of an article, 'Notices of the Life of Lord Byron by Mr Moore, and remarks on those notices by Lady Byron', published without significant alteration in The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal , Vol. 28 (1830), pp. 33.

Thomas Campbell was born in 1777, the son of a Glasgow merchant who lost his fortune whilst Thomas was a youth. He was educated at Glasgow Grammar School, and became a classics scholar at Glasgow University, 1791-1796, where he participated in debates and undertook poetical translations from Greek. Following a short period as a tutor in Mull, 1795, and Argyllshire, 1796, he settled in Edinburgh as a law clerk and tutor. His first publication was Pleasures of Hope (Mundell and Son, Edinburgh, 1799). Between Jun 1800 and March 1801, Campbell travelled in Germany and Denmark, and stayed in London on his return, where he was well received by literary society. After a brief return to Scotland, he returned to London, 1804, where he lived for the remainder of his life, making a living as a man of letters. Pensioned by the Crown in 1805, he continued to write, issuing Poems in 1805, and Specimens of the British Poets (John Murray, London, 1819). Other works included Gertrude of Wyoming; a Pennsylvanian tale; and other poems (Longman & Co, London, 1809), Life of Mrs Siddons (Effingham Wilson, London, 1834), Letters from the South (Henry Colburn, London, 1837), and The Pilgrim of Glencoe, and other poems (Edward Moxon, London, 1842). He edited several periodicals, including The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal , 1820-1830, The Scenic Annual , 1838, and The Metropolitan , a monthly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts. He was also Lord Rector of Glasgow University, 1826-1829. Campbell died at Bologne in 1844 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

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The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, holds miscellaneous letters and papers (Ref: MSS 1002, 1808, 2618), letters to Dr Robert Anderson, 1797-1830 (Ref: Adv MS 22.4.11 ff.1-17), correspondence with Archibald Constable, 1802-1808 (Ref: MS 669), letters to Sir Walter Scott, 2nd Bt (Ref: MSS 2256-57, 3874-3916), letters and poems to Richard Bentley, 1824-1839 (Ref: MS 2618), and correspondence, 1795-1836 (Ref: MSS 9814 ff38-77; 9818 ff. 105-154; 9835 f.99); the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has letters to Henry Colburn, 1820-1842 (Ref: Forster Collection); the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, contains letters and literary fragments, and correspondence and literary manuscripts; Glasgow University Library holds miscellaneous literary papers (Ref: MS Gen 502; MS Gen 1091); the Huntington Library, California, USA, has letters and literary manuscripts, 1794-1844; Houghton Library, Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA, contains literary manuscripts and papers (Ref: MSS Eng 1140, 1154); the British Library, London, holds a manuscript translation of Aeschylus' Choephorae, 1796 (Ref: Add MS 40099), letters to Elizabeth Vassall Fox, Lady Holland, 1805-1824 (Ref: Add MSS 51846-51849), and letters to the Royal Literary Fund, 1805-1841 (Ref: Loan 96); University College London contains letters to Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, 1831-1840 (Ref: Brougham papers), and letters and poems, 1816-1843 (Ref: MS MISC 2C); Dundee University Library holds correspondence, notebooks and literary manuscripts, 1796-1843 (Ref: MS 25); the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, has correspondence with the Noel and Byron families, 1812-1831 (Ref: Dep Lovelace Byron), and letters to John Richardson, 1800-1828 (Ref: Eng misc d184); the Beinecke library, Yale University, contains letters to Margaret Coates, 1800-1802 (Ref: 44.214); the Brotherton Library, Leeds University, holds letters to John Richardson, 1800-1830; Liverpool Record Office and Local History Service has letters to members of the Roscoe family, 1805-1839 (Ref: Roscoe papers, 717-730, 5822).

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