The Scottish Martyrs: More aftermaths of the American Revolution: financial matters: Duncan Campbell's will: Life in Duncan Campbell's household: Campbell relinquishes the hulks: Hulks administration from 1800: The death of Duncan Campbell in 1803:

 

The Scottish Martyrs:

 

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     After the first three fleets of convict ships had left, British repressiveness celebrated by illegally transporting four idealistic Scotsmen. The case caused considerable comment. ([1]) On 30-31 August, 1793 was Muir's trial, at Edinburgh. Others in trouble included Gerrald and Margorot. And in September 1793, a leading Scots Unitarian, Thomas Palmer, was sentenced to seven years' transportation. All this made reformers everywhere more desperate. And all this was to come to Duncan Campbell's attention in embarrassing ways. In Watson's treatment of the reign of George III are uncommonly few references to Botany Bay, but one is in the context of the Scottish Martyrs, only, as political prisoners. Clune records that Scots legally could not be transported at the time. But the authority given for the transportation of the Scottish Martyrs was Act 25 Geo III c.46. ([2]) ([3]) The "Martyrs" were sent on a fever-ship departing England on 2 May, 1794, Surprize,  Capt. Patrick Campbell, 400 tons, arriving at Sydney 25 October, 1794, having been contracted for by Anthony Calvert, according to Shelton's Contract No. 10 of February 1794. For this transportation, Shelton carefully noted that he used the authority of HM Sign Manual, and that the governor of NSW would have delivered to him, "such Scotch convicts". Frank Clune in his book on the Scottish Martyrs records that when Surprize  arrived at Sydney, acting-governor Major Grose received a letter from Alderman Macaulay. One presumes the letter concerned the Martyrs. ([4]) Then, on 17 December, 1794, Surprize, departed Sydney for Bengal.

          Macaulay remained upset by the case of the Martyrs and followed their fate sincerely. He wrote in his journal on 10 April, 1797. A Scot himself, and presumably familiar with the laws on transportation in both England and Scotland, Duncan Campbell does not in this case smell too clean, and his letters to Stewart Erskine on the spot on the hulks about the Martyrs were certainly more concerned than usual about questions of prisoner comfort. ([5]) Meanwhile, convict matters were routine again - there were no large embarkations to manage. By 10 October, 1794, from Mount Pleasant, Campbell wrote to Dugald, Saltspring was in deep trouble financially. He advised Dugald to "get rid of that vanity". He advised, his two girls Ann and Lance would go to see their sister in Suffolk, He mentioned the ship Henry Dundas. ([6]) (Dugald advised by mid-1795, Saltspring was in even worse shape, and he wanted to end his situation there).

 

            The Scottish Martyrs, Muir, ([7]) Palmer and fourteen other Scots activists were brought from Scotland in November, 1793 from Leith in Royal George Revenue Cutter, Capt. Ogilvie, to be delivered to the hulks. Campbell was likely to have prepared himself for some controversy over reception of these prisoners, ([8]), but as a bureaucrat he had little choice. He was constrained to take the Scots prisoners. On 1 December, 1793 Campbell wrote to Erskine:

 

Campbell Letter 231:

                          London 1 Dec 1793

Capt Erskine

Woolwich< /span>

         I am this instant favoured with your letter of this mornings date, advising of your having received Sixteen Convicts from Scotland with the necessary Certificates of their Conviction. I approve of the manner you have distributed them. What I have already said to you will be sufficient to put you on your Ground to prevent an escape, & lead you to grant to Messrs Muir and Palmer, as much indulgence as the nature of their situation, your, and my duty will admit.  I shall be glad to hear, what progress is made in the Repairs of the Hospital & when you mean to make a visit to Blackwall.

                                               I am ([9] )

 

       Campbell appears to have had some qualms about holding the martyrs. He wrote on 6 January, 1794 to an unidentified under-secretary at the Home Office (probably John King) on Muir's health. ([10]) Dated the 8th, the reply informed Campbell it was impossible for him (Campbell) to make any small distinction between Muir and other convicts. Muir and Palmer were treated with "every attention" on the Woolwich hulks.

 

*     *      *     *

 

Little Duncan was in the navy on Duke of Buccleugh bound for St Helena in 1793. During 1794-96 he was on Princess Charlotte, rank unknown. ([11]) Some family matters intruded...

 

Campbell Letter 232:

                              London 4 Decr 1793

John Campbell of the Brunswick

            The above is Copy of my last which I sent to St Helena to meet you there or to overtake you at China before your departure from thence. As I have not heard from you since that date I have no new matter to communicate further than to inform you of the Loss of your Dear little Brother Neil who died the 13 June after a few days illness, you will easily believe how much your Mother & all the family were distressed by that event. We are now however I thank God all well. This I send by a Packet which I understand is bound for St Helena to inform you of our Welfare a circumstance which I doubt not will afford you much satisfaction. Your Brother Duncan is just upon the Wing, he goes out fifth Mate of the Duke of Buccleugh which Ship will proceed to Gravesend the beginning of next Month. I am afraid he will have little chance of meeting you for some time to come; but we must still look forward for so agreeable an event. We all join i n cordial love & wishes for your safe & speedy return & I remain

                    My Dear Jack -

                              Your ever Affectionate Father

 

      After Campbell had written to his son John on Brunswick of 4 December, 1793, he read what John Nutt had recently sent him, " Mr Campbell presents his Compliments to Mr Nutt, he has perused the letter intended to be sent by the Sub. Committee to Mr Dundas which he now returns. Mr C- is very sorry that he cannot altogether concur..." ([12]) Although, it is not yet clear what Campbell could not concur with. (This must have been business of the British Creditors).

 

More family business was to be sorted, the ill-health of son-in-law Willox.

Campbell Letter 233:

                                    Robert Street   Adelphi

                                    13 Decem       1793

The Right Honble Lord Amherst,

         Will your Lordships have the goodness to pardon the liberty I take in this application which is made in behalf of a distressed yet worthy young Man my Son in law, William Willox a Captain by Purchase in the 40th Regt of foot who from a long and severe illness is rendered at present unfit for his duty as an Active Officer. By Sir George Osborner's letter a copy of which I take the liberty to hand to your Lordship Capt Willox is called upon to attend his duty in the Regt or to Resign his Commission within a Month for the 14th Instant, he has no objection to waiting on half pay if your Lordship approves of his so doing, but his ........                                                        

    ..... to obtain from His Majesty a further leave of absence to Capt Willox ..... Inclosed I send for your Lordship's satisfaction Certificate of the Case of Capt Willox by Medical Gentlemen of much respectability who with John Hunter deceased have long attended him. The condescension & notice I have at different times been honoured with by your Lordship gives me some hope that I shall be pardoned for this presumption and in that hope I remain with the greatest deference and Respect

                    My Lord ([13] )

 

           Patrick Colquhuon was determined to continue vast research on what it cost society to support "the criminal classes". ([14]) Shortly after arriving in London he began to make inquiries of Campbell on convicts. The overseer readily gave any information he could, but he could not provide the kinds of figures on the hulks Colquhuon would have preferred. ([15]) Colquhuon had to make do with estimates. Colquhuon's work eventually became of great use to City merchants as it prompted the development of river police to combat institutionalized thievery on the river. ([16])< /p>

 

Campbell Letter 234:

                       Adelphi Dec 14   1793

Mr Campbell presents his compliments to Mr Colquhuon and in compliance with his desire sends the following answer to his queries

 

(1) I cannot ascertain the number of convicts sent to New South Wales, there being many sent from the Hulks at Portsmouth not under my charge. [More information followed] ([17])< /p>

 

*     *    *

 

More aftermaths of the American Revolution: financial matters:

 

        On 19 November, 1794 the Jay Treaty was signed partly as Britain remained fearful the United States would become a French ally in the war now over a year old. This treaty established a commission to deal with US debts, which must have made Campbell's heart leap a little, as would the hearts of men in Glasgow firms. ([18]) In fact, debt negotiations dragged on depressingly, to 1804 and 1811. ([19])  One historian says the Jay Treaty was still-born. ([20]) John Jay himself was excoriated for the Treaty by the Jeffersonian faction, while Hannay viewed the Jay Treaty as favourable enough to US trade. British merchants had wanted a lump sum from American Government, an idea not enthused, and discussed later in 1800-1801 after the failure of a joint arbitration committee made possible by the Jay treaty of 1794. By the British-American convention of 8 January, 1802, the US Government agreed to pay Britain a lump sum of £600,000 to quit of all obligations to British creditors, under the Jay Treaty. To disburse the £6000,000, the British government set up a new commission in 1804, which worked to 1811, investigating all pre-war claims. The Glasgow merchants had hoped for compensation of £2.5 million! Claimants finally received only 46.4 per cent of their original claims. Some estates reimbursed for London-Maryland situations only were the estate of Campbell's associate William Molleson, to Ann Russell his wife, to Christopher Court. By then the estate of Duncan Campbell had claimed £6731 principal on a claimed £13,677 interest total £20,407, and allowed £4,000. And was paid a final 1857:14:6d on Maryland claims.

 

*    *    *

 

      A small commercial matter occupied Campbell (it will be recalled that Wedderburns, the firm that had bought the First Fleet ship Lady Penrhyn,  had recently helped the Campbells buy slaves for Saltspring).< /p>

 

Campbell Letter 235:

London 14 Feb 1794

James Wedderburn Esq

Westmoreland Jamaica per the Man of War

 

By desire of my Son Dugald I send you enclosed Invoice Bill Lading &c for sundrys shiped on board the Fort William Capt Sowden for your account and address. The amount £30/3/11d. you will be pleased to settle with my son Dugald. With very great respect

                           I am ([21] )

 

*    *    *

 

Duncan Campbell's will:

 

           Meanwhile, Campbell's dealings began to register further decline in his energies, and he considered writing his will. Around June 1794, Campbell was again considering selling his warehouses in Haydon Square to Mr. Rumball. The sale was not finalised after June 1794. (The non-sale of the warehouses may have been connected with the overtures Campbell had made to Christopher Court, above, regarding the handling of volumes of tobacco?)

 

       Campbell's will was an astute document, 16 pages long, dated 21 February, 1794, the fourth will and the last composed. Campbell gave his second wife Mary Mumford a mere £300 per year, as her father had provided amply for herself and her children. His son Dugald received Saltspring plantation, the warehouses owned or leased in Haydon Square, books and clocks. John inherited the farm Brands, and Brandshatch, the latter piece of land destined to become the noted British motor raceway. John also received clocks, books and an annuity of £7500. ([22])< /p>

 

     Duncan Jnr received an annuity of £7500, plus firearms and the farm Little Maplescombe. A son by Mary Mumford, William Newell, received Knotts farm and £7300 in annuity. Duncan's daughter Ann received an annuity of £8000. daughter ? annuity of £8000. Daughters Elizabeth, Mary Ann and Louisa received £7500 each as annuity. Other arrangements were made for Mary Willox and the children of Henrietta. Complicated provisions were made for both Mary Willox, (who had eloped with the  soldier, William Willox) and Henrietta Campbell and their children, for their sole and separate benefit free of the control, debts or engagements of their husbands.

 

      All grandchildren were liberally arranged for. Great provision was made for the integrity of the residual personal estate. Other relatives, servants, and others received small sums, while James Boyick was given £1,200 for his loyal service. Dated 21 February, 1794, Campbell's 16-page will was an astute document, apparently causing no family discord at all. He let go of the lease of the Adelphi house and stated he wished to be interred in his own vault in Hackney Church, (St John's) where his much-loved first wife Rebecca had lain since her death in 1774. When making his will, Campbell must have been worth at least £200,000, and was prepared to disburse up to £96,500 into well-secured consolidated Bank annuities, all at three per cent per annum, for the benefit of his heirs. He was deeply concerned with land, and he concealed most private judgements. He used the will to express his hope and his faith. No ships were mentioned in his will.

 

      Some burden had been provided Campbell through by the premature death of several of his children. Henrietta had died before 8 January, 1795, leaving her daughter Grace an orphan, whom Campbell arranged to have cared for by the grandmother in Scotland of his long-time clerk, James Boyick. A codicil had been added to the will on 3 February, 1796, which provided for Henrietta's children and disbursed funds intended for Henrietta to her sister Mary and her children. Campbell had always referred to Henrietta as "poor Henny".

 

     Great provision was also made for the integrity of the residual personal estate, and in many ways it seemed a model will for the times. The widow of Duncan's brother, Neil, was to receive £15 per annum. Each servant in Campbell's employ for a year, or who was present at the time of death, was given £5. A codicil of 1797 provided £15 per annum for a servant, the widow Ann Mills. The executors were to be reimbursed for expenses. There was a plea for Boyick's continued employ by the family, doubtless in the light of Boyick's long experience, especially in dealings with the still-hoped-for reclamation of the American debts.

 

     Before 1800, Campbell added several codicils to his will and considered giving up the Adelphi lease. At times, too, Campbell considered Dugald entirely taking over the future of Saltspring, ([23]) and later, (probably with the irascibility of age) he argued with a daughter's suitor, Mr. Peele. ([24])< /p>

 

      Campbell was becoming more testy, probably with the tendency of older people to withdraw into themselves, probably also irritated by and fearful of the war with France. By 15 June, 1796 he had his attorney in, as Aldridge later noted, "Attending you in the Adelphi by appt from 11 till 1.30 pm consulting on alterations in your will and advising thereon. Attending you respecting the intended marriage of your daughter Miss Campbell with Mr Peele." ([25]) Negotiations had not been happy. Aldridge noted in that month: 1796 - 6 July - "Having recvd settlement back from Mr Peele. 27 July - attending at the Adelphi re Duncan Campbell, Miss Campbell, Mr Peele Mr Boyick." By 6 July, 1796, Aldridge noted, this daughter had received back the settlement from Mr. Peele.

 

     Aldridge in February 1796 noted: "Attend taking instructions for Codicil to your Will". He had earlier noted, 12 August, 1795 - Attending Mr Boyick about your proving debt under Commission and afterwards (?) on Mr Madocks in Lincoln's Inn the Solicitor to the Commission to know if it would be worthwhile to prove debt. Attending twice upon you in the Adelphi and also after you to the Royal Exchange to get you to view an affidavit, but could not see you. 13/4d.

 

Life in Duncan Campbell's household:

 

         All Thames hulks business remained quiet. By 8 January, 1795, Campbell was concerned that his daughter Henrietta (and the overseer of Saltspring as well) had died, that war with the French endangered the shipping of sugar. By the mid-1790s, Campbell with his son John had up to four ships in East India trade including Mary, Valentine, and Henry Dundas. On 12 January he detailed a codicil to his will to his attorney. ([26]) Dugald by October, 1795 was to lease Saltspring from his father. As to Jamaica, a chronic fear prevailed there of a slave revolt; in July 1795 and March 1796, Maroons revolted on Jamaica; 100 Cuban hunting hounds were finally used to terrify fractious slaves. ([27])

 

     Earlier, Duncan had written...

 

Campbell Letter 236:

London Jan 8, 1795

Dugald Campbell   Jamaica

      I write to you a few lines the 27 Nov with a PS of the 3rd December since which I have received your two letters of the 6 October. I observe what you mention about the sugar and rum  DcC & DsC which shall be paid agreeable to your directions to the order of Messrs Barings who have within these few days applied to know what is likely to be the amount of the Proceeds they are to receive; a note of which I have transmitted as you will see by the inclosed Copy of my Card to them.

I am extremely sorry for the loss you have sustained by the death of your Overseer and the Young Gentleman assistant to Dr. Paterson. I approve of the appointment you have made to fill up the vacancy occasioned by the death of the Overseer. You will be surprised when I tell you that all our Jamaican and West Indian (?) still remain at Torbay or other Western Ports in the Channel, whether this is owing to the French fleet being at Sea in superior force or to any other course I will not take upon me to decide; but it is a distressing circumstance to all concerned with Sugar Plantations. God send us better times.

   My mind has lately been much agitated by some distressing circumstances which came to my knowledge on the decease of your poor unfortunate Sister Henrietta: I am unable now to give you a detail of that event & therefore I refer you to Copies of the sundry letters which passed on that subject from which you will learn every particular. - As soon as the severe weather which has prevailed for some weeks past breaks up, I mean to send Mr Boyick to carry down the poor Orphan Grace to his Grand-Mother in Scotland under whose care I intend to place her. Capt Bligh wrote you by my desire of yesterday's date with a detail of sundry particulars better known to him than to me and to these I beg leave to refer you. All my family ......

                               .... My Dear Dugald

You will receive herewith a list of the sundry sales sent you by Capt Douglass ([provides a list of letters - including Mr A. Crawford, Mrs Susanna Campbell] ([28])< /p>

 

     Moves were stirring in London regarding what would become a massive redevelopment of port facilities. ([29]) Among those giving evidence to parliamentarians were Capt. Thomas King of Camden, Calvert and King, an Elder Brother of Trinity House; and John St Barbe. King in deposing to a committee of inquiry, said he had been acquainted with the River Thames for more than 30 years; the last 12 of which he had been residing in London and concerned with shipping. St. Barbe deposed on 18 April, 1796, described as a ship broker. A ship owner, Mellish, also concerned with whaling, gave evidence on 18 April. It surprises a little that Campbell made no reference to these moves in his letterbooks, although it is known he signed petitions as merchants gathered support for their hopes to redevelop the port of London.

 

*    *    *

 

     On 12 August, 1795, Campbell's attorney Aldridge was attending James Boyick about Campbell's proving a debt "under Commission and afterwards" (?), on Mr Madocks in Lincoln's Inn, "the Solicitor to the Commission to know if it would be worthwhile to prove debt". ["Attending twice upon you in the Adelphi and also after you to the Royal Exchange to get you to view an affidavit, but could not see you", as Aldridge later advised Campbell]. Such matters were probably involved with the debt recovery work of the British Creditors. Just one of the financial problems besetting Campbell about August, 1795 was severe wartime inflation, which raged at up to 30 per cent. Both Campbell and the other hulks contractor, Bradley, had to beg the Treasury for concessions, in fact, mercy, as they could not operate the hulks at the rates specified in their contracts. The concession was granted.

 

Campbell Letter 237:

London 12th August 1795

George Rose Esq.

                It is with extreme reluctance we take the liberty of representing, for the information of the Right Honble the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury the difficulty we are under in maintaining the Convicts on board the Hulks; the extraordinary rise in the price of all sorts of Provisions, and more particularly in the Articles of Bread & Beef, having exposed for some time to a very considerable additional expence amounting at least to £800 per Annum for the Convicts in the River; and is a larger Sum for those in Portsmouth and Langston Harbour. We are aware of the terms in which we have engaged with their Lordships, precluding us from making any demand of an increase, yet, under the circumstances now stated we are induced to hope their Lordships will not think us presuming in requesting an additional allowance for Maintaining and Guarding the Convicts, which we take the Liberty of indicating may be at the rate of One penny per day for Each Convict, and we hope their Lordships will not deem it unreasonable if we take the liberty of regulating that such additional allowance may commence with the present Quarter Account, and be continued until the price of Provisions is reduced to a reasonable standard.

                              We are very respectfully

                    [sgd]     Dun Campbell

                              Ja Bradley ([30])< /p>

 

    Given the need for stringency, it was also time for Duncan to give his son Dugald another upbraiding.

 

Campbell Letter 238:

Dugald Campbell

Jamaica< /span>

        About a week since I had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 7 June & 14 July - ...... I observe with great concern the account you now give and the picture you draw of Saltspring Estate and its dependencies, which force upon us a serious [review?] of our reciprocal situation; on which I will not recriminate as I can easily conceive how you must feel from the course; ....... When the Blessings of Peace return let us be prepared to avail ourselves of that event, by a rigid Economy in every expenditure - Attend to this advice, get rid of that vanity which you say has so long flatter'd you in the appearance of being what you are not, a Man of Fortune - ..... As to the proposal you make of giving up that Estate; it is premature and would if complied with greatly derrange the plan I have adopted for a distribution but you may well contend that no act of mine will deprive you of that proportion which I intended and still intend to alott you for unless the Sans Cullotts take the distribution off my hands, in that case you must take the will for the deed.

....We expect the East India ships, intended for this season will very shortly be taken up, when I trust the Henry Dundas will be among the number. The Mary will be out of dock tomorrow she has done pretty well this voyage we shall probably get something by her. We are all well again and join in cordial love with my Dear Jack ([31])< /p>

 

*    *    *

 

Campbell relinquishes the hulks:

 

          Between 1797-1801, information about Campbell as the hulks overseer faded from the official records and his own letterbooks. Campbell was little more than a signature on a document here, or a bill to be honoured there. The administration of the hulks became more bureaucratic. What Campbell had established was now institutionalised and there were fewer signs of his own initiative. ([32]) As it became obvious he would retire from the hulks, Campbell was watched. Certain parties in government who had never liked Campbell, or the hulks, wanted to see the hulks brought under revised administration, one more suited to public management. Magistrate Aaron Graham would replace Campbell as hulks superintendent. ([33])

 

      The anti-imperialist Jeremy Bentham continued his plans to see the hulks superseded and his Panopticon prison begun, perhaps at Battersea Rise on land owned by the Second Lord Spencer, Lord Privy Seal, from mid-1794. ([34]) Or at Woolwich. Or the Millbank site near Tothill Fields in which the Marquis of Salisbury had an interest. ([35]) But Campbell had won that long battle. The linkages between the hulks establishment and transportation to Australia were to continually frustrate Bentham's efforts to see a rational prison system established. ([36])

 

      Was Bentham encouraged by Campbell's death? ([37]) In 1803 he produced his Plea for the Constitution, ... A plea showing the enormities committed to the oppression of British subjects, in breach of the Magna Carta, the Petition of Rights, the Habeus Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights, and several Transportation Acts. It also discussed the design, foundation and government of the penal colony of NSW including an inquiry into the right of the Crown to legislate without Parliament in Trinidad and other British Colonies. ([38])< /p>

 

      Stewart Erskine wanted contract to manage the hulks. Whether Erskine knew the details of proposed plans for a different administration of the hulks - by Aaron Graham - is unknown. Campbell presumably felt sparks of satisfaction at the opening of the West India docks. But his health was breaking down, and perhaps his wealth too had been dented in 1797, the year which had brought trouble for the gold standard and the Bank of England. In 1799 Campbell and Dugald considered some plans to possibly sell Saltspring on Jamaica. He was also still trying to recover his American debts "under the treaty" made by which Jay in 1794. (By 22 April, 1803, a British commission was appointed to examine the claims of British creditors and settle debts after the matter of 1802. Claims by loyalists were referred to another commission yet again. ([39]) There are no accurate figures on the debts of 1775, but the guess is near £5 million. British commissioners settled the last claim in 1811, but their figures may be  well below what was claimed, gave little real idea of what the Americans had owed, and  many debts had been paid off before information reached them.) ([40])< /p>

 

          Campbell's health failed more often from 1797. Fewer letters drifted into his files. He became querulous with a daughter's suitor and had other dissatisfactions. None of his daughters' marriages had seemed to please him. The old man argued over the settlement for the marriage of his daughter Ann to Dr William Peele. Peele at one point withdrew his offer of marriage. Aldridge the attorney flitted in and out of the house at the Adelphi, summoned for this or for that. By 1798, Campbell had even begun thinking of giving up the lease of the Adelphi address. Even worse, the property at Wilmington was discussed in dubious prospect. Ann did marry Dr Peele, only to die on 22 December, 1801, of an undisclosed ailment, to be buried in the Peele vault at Dartford, aged 32.

 

      About February, 1797, Duncan's son Mumford married. Later, perhaps by 1800, he was head assistant at the general treasury of India. ([41]) Mumford seems to have first gone out to India in 1795, the year of his first listing in India Registers, Bengal Civil Index.   By 1799 Mumford was assistant to the Register of the Zillah Adawlut, Purneah. By 1803 he was head assistant to the sub-treasurer; by 1807, Judge and Magistrate of Rungpore. In 1809 he apparently was at home, and again in 1813 at home, his last appearance in such registers. ([42]) What sort of environment did Mumford work in?     About 1804, Cambridge University undergraduates in the interests of a patriotic education were invited by the vice-president of Fort William College, Bengal, to submit on the topic (for an annual prize for an essay on British India)... "The Probable Design of Divine Providence in subjecting so large a portion of Asia to the British dominion", or "The best means of civilising the subjects of the British empire in those parts of India" controlled by the East India Company. ([43]) Mumford lived in an environment requiring one to be continually choosing between pomposities!

 

     As part of revamping the family finances, it appears Duncan and John sold their ship Henry Dundas. Lloyd's Registers for 1799-1800 listed a husband, T. Newte, sending out a ship Henry Dundas 1200 tons Capt. Carruthers. ([44]) (Although, the Campbells may not have been wealthy enough to manage a 1200-tonner?)

 

1801...

 

Hulks administration from 1800:

 

       Duncan's son John by 1801 was of Great Queen St, London. (He was not the John Campbell long-known as a regular subscriber to Lloyd's Register). About 1801, a memorandum (dated merely, 1801) came to the attention of Campbell's loyal clerk since 1772, Boyick, relating to an assignee of John Metcalf a bankrupt. Campbell's last transaction with Metcalf had been in March 1781, the matter left in the hands of bankers Gregg and Potts. ([45]) Campbell in his long career had acquired a sizeable list of deceased estates.

 

     On 27 January, 1801, Erskine informed government he was willing to contract for the convicts in the Woolwich hulks. ([46]) It is doubtful he would have done so without knowledge of Campbell's impending retirement, and John's distaste for the business of hulks management. By 4 February, 1801 a letter from the Transport Office to George Rose at Treasury signified that officers of the Transport Commission were about to conduct an examination to find the best mode of keeping the convicts, in the event of the resignation from their contracts of Messrs Campbell. ([47])

 

        Bureaucratic mysteries still surround the Irish transportation. John Campbell's account for the delivery of 180 convicts to Minerva per the order of Edward P. Hatton was dated 23 March, 1801, as Treasury Board papers indicate. This is a  mystery of the records, since on 27 March 27, 1801?, Edward F. Hatton ordered John Campbell to deliver 80 convicts to the transport Minerva Capt. Salkeld (which arrived in Sydney in 11 January, 1800). ([48]) the charter party for which was referred to in a contract with James Duncan, and the government witness was M. Cardin. ([49]) Since Minerva was to take Irish prisoners, Thomas Shelton did not draw the contract for her. Bateson however says Minerva was owned by Robert Charnock, and presumably Charnock or one of his agents - James Duncan - took the contract. ([50]) Charnock was by now a noted East India ships husband.

 

     It is then difficult to see what possible jurisdiction John Campbell had in the matter, more so as there has been no record sighted indicating Duncan Campbell after 1784 had anything to do with any delivery of sizeable numbers of Irish convicts, certainly not respecting any numbers embarked at Cork. So just why John Campbell's name on the eve of his retirement from hulks business is associated with the delivery of 180 Irish convicts to Minerva remains mysterious, unless some Irish sentenced in British courts were then sent back to Ireland before being transported from there? This would be strange enough, but there exists also an item of folklore which contradicts the maritime record. The belief has existed in Ireland, Britain and Australia, that Irish convicts transported to Australia were sent first to British ports before being shipped to Australia. This view is not supported by Bateson's book, The Convict Ships.

 

*    *    *

 

        Meanwhile, the transport commissioners called on the Campbells, and also on Stewart Erskine. Sir William Rule, one of the surveyors of the navy, and formerly master shipwright at Woolwich Yards had become Erskine's ally. ([51]) Rule voluntarily called on the transport commissioners to indicate he had known Erskine for many years and that Erskine had really had all the business of convicts on his hands during the existence of the Campbell contracts, they being nominal superintendents only. From Erskine's conduct, Rule thought no one could be fairer to both government and the convicts than Erskine. (At this time, Alexander Macleay, later colonial secretary for NSW, was on the staff of the Transport Board).

 

     The Transport commissioners recommended the contract be renewed to Erskine on the terms he had proposed on 27 January. By 22 May, 1801, magistrate Aaron Graham was making proposals regarding the hulks at Langston Harbour and Portsmouth, just as the returns of A. H. Dyne had been examined. ([52]) Over 30 November-3 December in 1801, Aaron Graham made further suggestions for improvements to the hulks system. Behind such moves were the good offices of Pelham, who wanted the hulks system and transportation swept with a new broom. ([53])< /p>

 

On 22 June, 1801, Duncan and John Campbell gave an account to government regarding convicts. On 19 June, 1802, John Campbell of Great Queen Street merchant made an oath on his convict returns before Baker at the Public Offices, Hatton Gardens.

 

       After the resignation of the Campbells as Thames hulks overseers in 1801, George Rose at Treasury contacted the Transport Office about an examination being made on the management of the convicts. The Transport Commissioners called on the Campbells and Erskine. Government after Campbell's death continued to employ Erskine, of Fludyer Street, Greenwich, until 5 April, 1803 (which date appears to be a last mention of Erskine in the records). ([54])  Sir William Rule, formerly master shipwright at Woolwich Yard, indicated he could recommend Erskine, who was later appointed to superintend the hulks convicts. ([55]) By 22 March, 1802, Commissioners Transport were assessing Mr. Addington's query to allow Erskine to charge an extra penny per convict per day. ([56]) However, about 26 June, 1803, Erskine was prosecuted at the Summer Assizes for assisting the escape of convict William Smith from Prudentia hulk. Perhaps, Erskine had enemies who would do anything to remove him? ([57]) A waterman Richard Vickars gave evidence. The court's decision is not noted. Later, magistrate Aaron Graham was placed in charge of the Thames hulks. It is rather difficult to believe that after 27 years on the hulks, Erskine would have assisted an escape! One suspects  Erskine was "got" by long-standing enemies of the hulks system. But he survived. ([58])  ([59])  By 28 May, 1813, Messrs Bradley and Erskine were still furnishing the convict  establishment with provisions, clothing, etc. ([60])< /p>

 

       Act 41 Geo III c.28 improved some conditions for prisoners. Pelham in his new broom mood wished to implement a new system, whereby prisoners would be transported on naval vessels only. ([61]) He did not succeed, which was a pity, as by 1810, far from convict vessels being sent out in naval vessels, a system developed whereby, as Bateson noted, privately contracted convict ships took out as guards, military detachments which would later proceed from NSW to India, as the ships went trading to India and Singapore. It would have been more appropriate, as a matter of patrolling Imperial frontiers, if naval vessels with military detachments had been taking convicts out. ([62])

 

*    *    *

 

1802....

 

About February, 1802 James Boyick at John Campbell's premises at Great Queen Street was contacted by Miss Rebecca Campbell, Duncan's niece (though it is not certain just who her parents were). Perhaps she had come of age, or otherwise needed money or advice. In 1802, after pressure from British creditors, Article VI of the Jay Treaty was annulled under a convention signed 8 June, 1802, when Great Britain agreed to pay to the US about four times the amount needed to satisfy American claims, in order the US in turn could pay what the British claimed. ([63]) Doubtless, interpreting such information was a task for James Boyick, who was kept by the Campbell family as clerk after Duncan's death, presumably as he had the longest memory of all for the difficult business of trying to recover American debt monies. Finally, in 1811, Campbell's estate was awarded £4000 on the part of his debt "found good". Campbell for years had insisted he lost £38,135 3/10d in Virginia and Maryland.

 

The death of Duncan Campbell in 1803:

 

         Duncan Campbell spent most of his last years at Wilmington, retired from the city into Kent. He died aged 78 on 28 February, 1803. ([64]) His last years had been quiet and seemingly attended with peace. There are no family notes on the manner of death, the cause, or the expressions of grief. A certain calm, perhaps that of expectation and preparedness, had prevailed. (At the Blackheath Golf Club the custom when a member died was that members wore mourning garb their next few days of play.) The estate duty on Campbell's will was £22,684, the matter probably being discussed by 9 March, 1803. ([65])

 

     Present at the proving of the will should have been Alexander Pitcairn, who made it known he was intimately acquainted with Duncan Campbell formerly of the Adelphi in the parish of St Martin in the Fields in the County of Middlesex but late of Wilmington in the County of Kent Esquire deceased for ten years and upwards before and to the time of his death which as this deponent hath been informed and believes on the twenty fourth day of the Month of February last past...

 

*     *     *

 

        It is unknown what Dugald, Duncan's eldest son, did after his father died. It is known, his heirs and assigns inherited Saltspring on Jamaica. Dugald in his turn was to be an executor of the will of William Bligh, but he predeceased Bligh. None of  Campbell's direct descendants came to particular notice in history, although one grandson, Capt. Charles Dugald Campbell (born 1814) was one of the first British to sail up the Euphrates River. ([66]) Campbell's memory lived on in odium. Tainted with the stigma of dealing with convicts, his life and  reputation became fragmented, splintered. His family history was miswritten. It is worse than ironic, what happened to the life story of many a hapless convict... no care for the soul, the experiences of decades mishandled, with written details forgotten or misplaced, uncertainty over a last resting place, records lost of friendships and fortunes, a life fit only to become what gossips want to make of it if anything is remembered at all... happened also to Duncan Campbell, the overseer of the Thames prison hulks, a man who checklisted the names of thousands of convicts destined to be sent to North America and Australia.

 

     The fragmentation of Campbell's biography, due partly to simple hatred, is why, in United States, British and Australian history, Duncan Campbell never met Thomas Jefferson... When in life, he did.

 

     No ships were mentioned in Campbell's will. His long-term deputy hulks superintendent Erskine was also ignored in the will. The long wonder of Erskine's career is that he was never the victim of revenge taken by members of some alleged organised crime ring. Given his long career, Erskine must have become some kind of river institution in his own right. It is surprising he was never murdered by prisoners' friends at some point in his "tour of duty" on the hulks. That Erskine has never been noticed in London folklore also seems incredible. Erskine could have been much criticised, say, as an evil sadist, but he has not been, and if he was a decent man, this might be why Campbell's obituarist took the view he did. Campbell had never been popular with journalists and the hulks were always unpopular with London. His obituarist thought Campbell was not a gentleman, and took an opportunity to pillory him...

 

      Campbell's obituary in the next issue of The Gentleman's Magazine read:- "Died at Wilmington, in Kent, Duncan Campbell Esq. He is succeeded as governor and overseer of the hulks at Woolwich by his deputy, Mr. Stewart Erskine, a gentleman possessed of great humanity, and of the strictest honesty and integrity and who has had the sole management of that concern for him ever since its first establishment in 1775. Mr. C. died possessed of much property, yet, to the surprise of their best friends, has not left any legacy to Mr E for his long and faithful services; though he seemed always to be considered himself much indebted to that gentleman for his great accumulation of fortune." ([67])

 

       Campbell's land-hunger had been observed from afar. Some journalists are observant, the better ones are perceptive as well. So, one obituarist heaped odium on Campbell, drove a stake through his heart before his body was scarcely cold in the grave. He reminded the Campbell family where their money had come from. No mention of a West India merchant, no mention of William Bligh and the sensational Bounty mutiny. No mention of good works dutifully undertaken by way of shifting convicts out of the kingdom. Just, ingratitude. But the obituary was just as vain as any other journalistic attempt since 1776 to draw attention to the hulks. It was London feeling about the hulks that motivated this odium heaped on Campbell. George Macaulay when he died on (5 March) 1803 was praised in his obituary, and his fellow-aldermen were pleased to vote his widow an annuity. His obituarist may or may not have known Macaulay had engaged in transporting convicts to "New Holland", but presumably, like most Londoners, he would have approved of getting rid of "the scum". ([68])

 

      The obituarists of both men also failed to mention a new continent - Australia - introduced to the world through the agency of Britain's obsession with deporting undesirables to anywhere it thought fit. Life and reality are only ever as they are seen to be. And so an unknown London journalist's epitaph for Duncan Campbell remained as an unknown Englishman's comment on the Thames hulks and the so-called "founding of Australia". A thing apparently of determination, greed, ingratitude and odium for eternity, full of things to be forgotten. Not as something odious that was foisted on the unknown and enigmatic continent of Australia, and its people, for which Britain was and is responsible, and will not fully admit, and has not yet, because to do so would call into question the morality of its career as a colonising Imperial power.

 

          A brutal authoritarianism lives and breathes in the documents of Australia's early European history. This authoritarianism is palpable, pervasive, tough as the shell of a turtle. It is the authoritarianism applied when a kingdom rids itself of its social scum and thinks and feels little of the consequences. But finally, it is possible to turn the turtle over...

 

     Duncan Campbell on 15 November, 1770 wrote to his brother-in-law John, a strangely wistful remark from Britain's arch convict contractor, and a man who by virtue of statutory law, and despite himself, became a "private enterprise criminologist". His view is reminiscent of an ancient formula known to many cultures: "Order is the first law of heaven"... except that the order Campbell dwelt in was created by a British authoritarianism mottled with compassion, as with lichen on a rock .

 

"I was always a lover of Peace, & I think the older I grow the more I am inclined to it. Not that I got anything by it, though perhaps you will say I do, and not be far wrong."

 

*     *     *< /p>

 

[Finis Chapter 44]

Words 7436 words and footnotes 9928 pages 18 footnotes 68