Thomas Campbell was one of the most celebrated poets of his age, a Glasgow man whose verse was ranked in his day above that of Wordsworth and Coleridge. Famous for a single early masterpiece and for a handful of stirring patriotic songs, he was three times Lord Rector of his old university, and now lies in Poets’ Corner, the only major Romantic poet actually buried there.
A High Street childhood
Campbell was born in the High Street of Glasgow in 1777, the youngest son of a Glasgow merchant. He was educated at the High School of the city and then at the University of Glasgow, where he shone as a classicist and won prizes for his verse, part of the city’s long tradition in education.
The Pleasures of Hope
In 1799, aged just twenty-one, Campbell published The Pleasures of Hope, a long poem in heroic couplets that became an instant bestseller and made him famous across Britain. It touched on the great causes of the day, from the French Revolution to the partition of Poland and the abolition of slavery, and it established him at once as a poet of the first rank.
Songs of war and sea
In 1800 Campbell travelled to Germany, where he saw the aftermath of battle at first hand. From this came the poems for which he is best remembered: the patriotic songs Ye Mariners of England, Hohenlinden, The Soldier’s Dream and The Battle of the Baltic, which entered the national memory and still appear in anthologies of English verse.
London and a new university
Campbell settled in London in 1803. It was he who, in a letter to The Times in 1825, first proposed the founding of a new university in London that would be open to all, regardless of religion, and he worked hard to bring it about. The result was University College London, among the most lasting of his achievements.
Rector of Glasgow
His native city did not forget him. He was elected Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow three times, from 1826 to 1829, defeating Sir Walter Scott for the honour. A passionate champion of Poland, he was struck as if by personal grief when Warsaw fell to Russia in 1831. In his later years his health and his popularity declined together.
Poets’ Corner
Campbell died at Boulogne in France in 1844, and was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. In Glasgow, a statue was raised to him in George Square, where he stands to this day among the great figures of the city’s culture.
Related questions
What is Thomas Campbell famous for?
His poem The Pleasures of Hope and his patriotic songs such as Ye Mariners of England and The Battle of the Baltic. He was one of the leading poets of the early nineteenth century.
Where was Thomas Campbell from?
He was born in the High Street of Glasgow in 1777 and educated at the University of Glasgow, of which he was later three times Lord Rector.
Did Thomas Campbell help found a university?
Yes. He was the first to propose a new university in London open to all, in 1825, and played a leading part in founding what became University College London.
Where is Thomas Campbell buried?
In Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. A statue of him also stands in George Square, Glasgow.