Lord Frederick Campbell

Portrait of Campbell by Henry Raeburn, c.1810.

Lord Frederick Campbell (20 June 1729 – 8 June 1816) was a Scottish nobleman and politician. He was lord clerk register of Scotland, 1768-1816; Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Glasgow burghs (1761–1780) and for Argyllshire (1780–1799).

Biography

Frederick Campbell was the third son of John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John, 2nd Lord Bellenden.

He was Member of Parliament for Glasgow Burghs from 1761 to 1780 and for Argyllshire from 1789 to 1799.

In 1765, being very intimate with Mr. Grenville, Lord Campbell was active in the arrangements for transferring the prerogatives and rights of the Duke of Atholl in the Isle of Man (then a nest of smugglers), to the crown, and in fixing the compensation to be given; but he felt and complained that the compensation was inadequate. In the same year (1765) Lord Campbell was for a few months lord keeper of the Scotch privy seal, and was succeeded by Lord Breadalbane. He was sworn of the privy council 29 May 1765, made lord clerk register for Scotland in 1768, and confirmed in that office for life in 1771.In 1774 Lord Campbell had laid the foundation-stone for a register house at Edinburgh, and procured a permanent establishment for keeping the records, and received the thanks of the court of session.

Lord Campbell sat in the Irish House of Commons for Thomastown from 1767 to 1768 and for St Canice from 1768 and 1776.

In 1778 he was colonel of the Argyll Fencibles, in 1784 a vice-treasurer for Ireland under George, Viscount Townshend, the lord-lieutenant, and in 1786 a member of the board of control for India. Lord Campbell As a member of parliament he seems to have been reticent; but it was on his motion in 1796 that Henry Addington was elected speaker of the Great British Parliament. He was treasurer of the Middle Temple in 1803. He died 8 June 1816 in Queen Street, Mayfair, and was, by his own directions, buried in a private manner in the family vault at Sandridge, Kent.

Family

Lord Campbell was married, 28 March 1769, to Mary, youngest daughter of Mr. Amos Meredith of Henbury, Cheshire, sister of Sir William Meredith, 3rd Baronet, and widow of the infamous Laurence, 4th Earl Ferrers. She burnt to death in a fire at their house, Comb Bank, Kent, in 1807.

Legacy

A Canadian school was named after him. Port Charlotte, Islay is named after his wife.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Hamilton, John Andrew (1886). "Campbell, Frederick (1729-1816)". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 8. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 357. Endnotes
  • Hely Smith's MacCallum Mores;
  • The Gentleman's Magazine lxxxvi. 572, lxxxvii. 214;
  • The Scotch Compendium;
  • The House of Argyll, Anon., Glasgow, 1871, p. 68;
  • Collins's Peerage, iv. 102;
  • Parliamentary History, xxiv. 297, xxviii.