Arthur Campbell

Who was Arthur Campbell?

Archibald Campbell or Arthur Campbell of the Bengal Medical Service was the first superintendent of the sanitarium of Darjeeling town in India. Sources differ regarding his first name. While some say that the "A" in "Dr A. Campbell" stands for Arthur, the name register of the Darwin Correspondence Online Database gives his name as Archibald, supported by Teagenius.com. However, in the same database, the footnote of a letter from Darwin to Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker cites his name as Andrew. Family papers and census returns refer to his first name as Archibald. He is also referred to as the first superintendent of Darjeeling. He was transferred from Kathmandu to Darjeeling in 1839.

In 1841, Dr Campbell brought tea seeds from the Kumaun region in China and started to grow tea near his residence at Beechwood, Darjeeling, on an experimental basis. His experiments were followed by similar efforts by several others, and soon, tea began to be cultivated in the area as Darjeeling tea.

In 1849, Dr Campbell and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker were imprisoned by the Dewan of Sikkim when they were touring the Sikkim region towards the Chola pass in Tibet. A British team was sent to negotiate with the king of Sikkim. However, they were released without any bloodshed.