Major Sir Malcolm Campbell MBE (11 March 1885 â 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called Blue Bird, including a 1921 Grand Prix Sunbeam. His son, Donald Campbell, carried on the family tradition by holding both land speed and water speed records.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Campbell initially enlisted as a motorcycle dispatch rider and fought at the Battle of Mons in August 1914. Shortly afterwards he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 5th Battalion, Queen’s Own (Royal West Kent Regiment), a Territorial Force unit, on 2 September 1914. He was soon drafted into the Royal Flying Corps, where he served as a ferry pilot, for his instructors believed he was too clumsy to make the grade as a fighter pilot.
During the late 1930s he commanded the provost company of the 56th (London) Division of the Territorial Army. From 1940 to 1942 he commanded the military police contingent of the Coats Mission tasked with evacuating King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their immediate family from London in the event of German invasion. On 23 January 1943 he was transferred from the Corps of Military Police to the General List. On 16 December 1945, having attained the age limit of 60, Campbell relinquished his commission and was granted the honorary rank of major.
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