Archibald Campbell (doctor)

Undated Carte de visite from the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland

Archibald Campbell (20 April 1805 – 5 November 1874) of the Bengal Medical Service (which became part the Indian Medical Service after 1857) was the first superintendent (1840-1862) of the sanatorium town of Darjeeling in north east India. He also took a great interest in ethnology, economic botany and the study of the region and wrote extensively in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal under the name of "Dr Campbell" or "Dr A. Campbell" which has led some authors to misidentify his first name as Arthur[1] or even Andrew.[2] Campbell is credited with the introduction of tea cultivation in Darjeeling and for playing a role in the early experiments on the cultivation of Cinchona. Campbell corresponded with numerous naturalists including B.H. Hodgson and Sir Joseph Hooker. The latter travelled around Sikkim with Campbell on an expedition in which the two were held prisoner by Tsugphud Namgyal, the local ruler. This incident led to the British annexation of the Sikkim Terai region.

  1. ^ Kennedy Dane. The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj, Berkeley: University of California Press, c1996 1996.
  2. ^ Darwin Correspondence Project, "Letter no. 1558," accessed on 26 October 2017, Letter number 1558: To J. D. Hooker. 10 March 1854.