CAMPBELL, Daniel (1672-1753), of Shawfield, Lanark, and Ardentenie and Islay, Argyll.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1707 - 1708
24 Feb. 1716 - 1727
28 Mar. 1728 - 1734

Family and Education

b. 1672, 3rd s. of Walter Campbell, capt. of Skipness, Argyll, and bro. of John Campbell of Edinburgh. educ. ?Glasgow 1689. m.(1) 1695, Margaret, da. of John Leckie of Newlands, Renfrew, 3s. 3da.; (2) 4 Apr. 1714, Catherine, da. of Henry Erskine, 3rd Lord Cardross [S], wid. of Sir William Denholm, 1st Bt., M.P. [S], of Westshields, Lanark, 1da.

Offices Held

M.P. [S] Inveraray 1702-7.

Collector of customs at Port Glasgow 1703-?8; commr. for the union of Scotland and England 1706.

Biography

Campbell, who came of an old Argyllshire family, was a wealthy Glasgow merchant, closely connected with the Duke of Argyll. In 1708, when he stood unsuccessfully for Glasgow Burghs, the commissioners of customs in Scotland complained to the Treasury in London that as collector of customs for Port Glasgow he was using his influence with the Duke of Argyll and the Duke’s uncle, John Campbell, to bring pressure on them to reinstate two Campbells whom they had dismissed.1 Returned unopposed for Glasgow Burghs in 1716, he voted with the Government in every recorded division, except that on the opposition motion censuring Argyll’s rival, Lord Cadogan, on which he voted against them, Argyll being then in opposition. On 18 June 1717 he seconded an opposition motion for limiting the number of placemen in the House. Soon after his return he helped the Glasgow town council to secure a renewal of the grant of the proceeds of the duty on beer, also obtaining for them £738 compensation from the Government for the quartering of the Jacobite prisoners in Glasgow, for which services the council paid him £348.2

Re-elected unopposed in 1722, Campbell lost his popularity in Glasgow on a rumour that he had been responsible for a tightening up of the local customs service, to stop alleged extensive frauds on the revenue by the Glasgow tobacco merchants, which were said to enable them to undersell their English rivals. During the riots at Glasgow against the malt tax in 1725, the fine house which he had built at Shawfield on the outskirts of the town was demolished by the mob, on account of his supposed part in promoting the tax. By a vote of the House of Commons he was awarded £6,080 compensation, which the Government recovered from Glasgow. Immediately after the riots, at which the magistrates were supposed to have connived, he called in a loan of £4,500 which he had made to the town council. In 1727 he sold Shawfield, using his compensation money to buy the islands of Islay and Jura from John Campbell of Calder for £12,000, later re-selling Jura.3 At the general election that year he was defeated, but was awarded the seat by the Commons on a technicality, a subsequent petition against his return by all four burghs being rejected. He did not stand again, though in 1734 he and his friends in Edinburgh

raised a mutiny in the town by setting up for themselves and boasting that they had the superior favour with Sir Robert Walpole.4

During the Forty-five he raised a militia company, fitting them out lavishly at his own expense. General John Campbell reported of him:

He has been of the utmost service to me in regulating the extravagant demands of others ... I wish the Duke of Argyll would drop him a line of thanks. He deserves it, and wants nothing for himself or family.5

He died 8 June 1753.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. M. Simpson

Notes

  • 1. Cal. Treas. Pprs. 1708-14, p. 26.
  • 2. G. Eyre-Todd, Hist. Glasgow, iii. 134-5.
  • 3. Ibid. 100-2, 135, 137, 140, 141; J. O. Mitchell, Glasgow Essays, 20.
  • 4. Argyll to Pelham, 26 July 1747, Newcastle (Clumber) mss.
  • 5. J. Fergusson, Argyll in the Forty-five, 59-60.