Family and Education

b. c.1736, 1st s. of John Campbell of Shawfield (d.v.p. 1746), by Lady Henrietta Cunningham, da. of William 12th Earl of Glencairn [S]. unm. suc. gd.-fa. 1753.

Offices Held

Biography

In 1760 Campbell was returned unopposed for Lanarkshire on the united interest of the Dukes of Douglas and Hamilton, with the support of the Duke of Argyll and Robert Dundas of Arniston.1 In 1761 he was re-elected against an opponent supported by Lord Hyndford.

Argyll’s death, followed by that of the Duke of Douglas, left Campbell without a patron. In December 1761 the dowager Duchess of Douglas recommended him to Bute as ‘ready to oblige your Lordship’.2 But in the division on the peace preliminaries, 9 Dec. 1762, he was a teller with John Wilkes for the Opposition. Furthermore, he was one of the few Scots who voted with the Opposition over Wilkes and general warrants, and was counted by Newcastle, 10 May 1764, as a ‘sure’ friend. During the debates on the repeal of the Stamp Act he appears in a list prepared by Sir Alexander Gilmour, 18 Feb. 1766, as voting with the Government;3 and he did not vote against them in the division of 22 Feb. Yet he is not known to have been closely connected with the leaders of the Newcastle-Rockingham group. Rockingham in November 1766 classed him as ‘doubtful’, Townshend in January 1767 as ‘Government’, and Newcastle in March as ‘friend’; and he did not vote in the divisions on the land tax or nullum tempus.

As early as August 1766 Campbell opened his campaign for the 1768 general election.4 Of his two opponents, Andrew Stuart stood on the Hamilton interest backed by the Argyll family, and Lockhart Ross had the friendship, if not the active support, of Stuart Mackenzie. Campbell’s candidature seems to have had somewhat lukewarm Government approval. Patrick Craufurd of Auchenames wrote to Mure, 6 Dec. 1766: ‘Ministry are more inclined to humour Shawfield than any other plan.’5 In the end Lockhart Ross and Campbell united against Andrew Stuart, and Lockhart Ross having won the toss for the nomination, was elected.

At the general election of 1774 Campbell stood once more for Lanarkshire, regarded by the Argyll-Hamilton family as a dangerous opponent to Andrew Stuart. On 27 July 1773 William Mure warned the Duchess:6

Shawfield I hear is in play, I wish the Duke [Argyll] could throw an invitation in his way, to return by Inverary that you might have a conference with him. He is a great card as they are now shuffled.

The Duchess replied, 1 Aug.:7

What shall I say to Shawfield if he comes this way. I think the boroughs [Lanark, Linlithgow, etc.] might be offered to him. He was once too high and mighty to accept of such an offer and he may be so yet, but if they could keep him out of the county, I think it would be worthwhile.

Another compromise (rejected by Andrew Stuart as prejudicial to the Hamilton interest) proposed that Campbell should be adopted for the county and in return should pay Stuart’s expenses for the Burghs, ‘whatever sum that might amount to’.8 In the end the Hamiltons prevented a coalition between their opponents by an alliance with Lockhart Ross and the interest of Lord President Dundas and his brother Henry Dundas. Campbell, left alone to oppose Stuart, was defeated.

He died 12 May 1777.

Ref Volumes: 1754-1790

Author: Edith Lady Haden-Guest

Notes

• 1. Add. 33049, f. 307.
• 2. Bute mss.
• 3. Add. 32974, f. 24.
• 4. J. S. Mackenzie to W. Mure, 28 Aug. 1766, Caldwell Pprs. ii (2), p. 89.
• 5. Ibid. 96.
• 6. Intimate Society Letters of the 18th Cent. ed. Duke of Argyll, i. 154.
• 7. Caldwell Pprs. ii (2), p. 223.
• 8. Stuart to the Duchess of Argyll, 9 Oct. 1773, Intimate Society Letters, i. 178-86.