Colin Campbell (astronomer)

Colin Campbell FRS (died 26 January 1752 in Kingston, Jamaica) was a Scottish astronomer.

He grew up in Jamaica. He matriculated at Glasgow University, in 1720. He was invested as a Fellow, Royal Society (F.R.S.) in 1733. He studied Newton's theory of the diminution of gravity away from the equator. He made astronomical observations, in correspondence with Edmund Halley. He held the office of Member of the Council [Jamaica] in 1742. After 1742, he sold his astronomical instruments to Alexander Macfarlane. He lived in 1748 at St. George Hanover Square, London.

In Jamaica, Campbell was a slaveholder and planter. In his will, Campbell bequeathed to his wife, Margaret Campbell, "the use and enjoyment of any of my Negroes at her own choice". In his will, he also bequeathed to his son, Colin, his "Negroes" at his two sugar plantations, Orange Bay and Fish River.

He was the son of Colonel John Campbell and Katherine Claiborne. He married Margaret Foster who died in London in 1786; they had children

John Campbell left Jamaica in 1756 "owing to a bad state of health" but returned in 1767 to dispose of the estates in order to clear his debts.

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