General John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, KT, PC (c. 1693 – 9 November 1770) was a Scottish British Army officer and Whig politician who represented Buteshire, Elgin Burghs, and Dunbartonshire in the House of Commons of Great Britain between 1713 and 1761.
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Early life
John Campbell was born c. 1693, the son of John Campbell of Mamore. His father was the second son of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll and his wife Elizabeth Elphinston, the daughter of John Elphinstone, 8th Lord Elphinstone.
Marriage and children
In 1720, Campbell secretly married Mary Drummond Bellenden, the daughter of John Drummond Bellenden, 2nd Lord Bellenden of Broughton. A maid of honour to Caroline of Ansbach, she was rumoured to have had an affair with the Prince of Wales. She had told the Prince that she would ask his blessing on any marriage but she broke this promise and married. She lost her position but John Campbell retained his position as a Groom of the Bedchamber. They moved to Coombe Bank. They had the following children:
Caroline Campbell (born 12 January 1721, died 17 January 1803)
Field Marshal John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll (born June 1723, died 24 May 1806)
Lord Frederick Campbell (born 20 June 1729, died 8 June 1816)
Lord William Campbell (born 11 July 1730, died 1778)
His wife died in childbirth in 1736.
He acquired Coombe Bank, at Sundridge, near Sevenoaks Kent, where he commissioned Roger Morris to build a country house for him in the second quarter of the 18th century. The house subsequently passed on his death in 1770 to his second son Frederick.
Military and parliamentary careers
Campbell joined the British Army in 1710, becoming a lieutenant colonel at the age of 19. However, he soon entered the world of politics, and at the 1713 general election, he was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament (MP) for the alternating seat of Buteshire. At the 1715 general election, Campbell stood at Elgin Burghs. He was defeated in the poll, in which two rival delegates were allowed to vote, and the chairman, who was the other candidate, used his casting vote in the resulting tie to return himself. Campbell was returned on petition as MP for the Boroughs on 7 April 1715. In the 1722 general election, much the same thing happened again with two rival delegates casting their votes. This time the petition was referred to committee and it took two years before Campbell was returned as MP on 23 January 1725.
At the 1727 general election, Campbell succeeded his father as MP for Dunbartonshire, where he was returned unopposed in the general elections of 1734, 1741 and 1747. He was returned unopposed again for Dumbartonshire at the 1754 general election, and supported Newcastle's administration and voted in its defence in the division on Minorca in 1757. He was nominated for governor of Dumbarton castle in 1759 but became involved in the Argyll-Bute family quarrel and was appointed governor of Limerick in compensation. He was returned again at the 1761 general election, but succeeded to the Dukedom two days later and had to vacate his seat in the House of Commons. During most of his tenure as MP for Dunbartonshire, he was Groom of the Bedchamber.
Additionally, Campbell served in the military during his tenure in Parliament—he became Colonel of the 39th Regiment of Foot (1737–1738) and the 21st Regiment of Foot (1738–1752), serving with honour in the Battle of Dettingen in 1743. On 12 July 1746, Campbell was the interrogator of Flora MacDonald, a Jacobite who aided Charles Edward Stuart's escape to Skye, and produced a written document of MacDonald's confessions. He rose quickly up the ranks, becoming a brigadier general in 1743, major general in 1744, and lieutenant general in 1747; he became colonel of the Royal North British Dragoons in 1752, a position he held until his death.
Dukedom and death
Upon inheriting the dukedom and other titles upon the death of his cousin Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll in 1761, he left the House of Commons and became governor of Limerick and a Scottish representative peer. He became a member of Privy Council in 1762, a general in 1765, and a Knight of the Order of the Thistle in that same year. The Duke died on 9 November 1770 and is buried at Kilmun Parish Church. He was succeeded in the dukedom and other titles by his elder son John. His younger son Lord William Campbell was the last British Governor of South Carolina.
In popular culture
In The Black Adder, the first series of historical sitcom Blackadder, the second episode, Born to Be King, has Alex Norton playing the Fourth Duke of Argyll, but this Duke is not John Campbell since the episode is set in 1487, 206 years before Campbell was born, and the Fourth Duke is called Dougal MacAngus.