George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll

George John Douglas Campbell, 8th and 1st Duke of Argyll KG , PC , FRS (born April 30, 1823 at Ardencaple Castle in Helensburgh , † April 24, 1900 at Inveraray Castle in Argyllshire ) was a British nobleman , writer and liberal politician . Until 1847 he carried the courtesy title of Marquess of Kintyre and Lorne .

Political career

George Campbell was the second son of the politician Henry Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyll (1777-1847) and his second wife Joan Glassel († 1828), a daughter of John Glassels and Helen Buchans. His paternal grandparents were Field Marshal John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll and Elizabeth Gunning, Baroness Hamilton of Hameldon.

George Campbell first visited the Eton College , then the University of St Andrews and later studied at Trinity College of Cambridge University . After his cavalier tour in Italy , he was elected to the House of Commons for the Argyllshire constituency. George Campbell was one of the closest allies of the Prince Consort Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha .

After inheriting his father's titles in 1847, he took his seat in the House of Lords . Five years later he became Lord Privy Seal in the Aberdeen Cabinet . In 1855 he moved to the post of Postmaster General under Lord Palmerston before he was again Lord Seal Keeper in his second cabinet. William Gladstone made Campbell Minister of India in 1868 . He lost this office in 1874 after the Tories won the election .

In 1880/81 Campbell was again Lord Seal Keeper under Gladstone. In the following years, however, he turned more and more from Gladstone because he rejected its Ireland policy ( Home Rule ). On April 7, 1892 he was newly awarded the title Duke of Argyll , which, in contrast to his previous dukedom, belongs to the Peerage of the United Kingdom .

In 1849 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and in 1851 of the Royal Society of London .

Private life and family

Caricature of George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, circa 1880

On July 31, 1844 Campbell married in Trentham the Lady of the Court ( Mistress of the Robes ) of Queen Victoria , Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1824-1878), the second daughter of the politician George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland , and the Lady Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Howard . Thirteen children emerged from the marriage:

  • John George Edward Henry Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll (1845–1914) ⚭ 1871 Princess Louise of Great Britain and Ireland (1848–1939)
  • Lord Archibald Campbell (1846–1913) ⚭ 1869 Janey Sevilla Callander († 1923)
  • Lord Walter Campbell (1848–1889) ⚭ 1874 Olivia Rowlandson Milns († 1892)
  • Lady Edith Campbell (1849–1913) ⚭ 1868 Henry George Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland (1846–1918)
  • Lord George Granville Campbell (1850–1915) ⚭ 1879 Sybil Lascelles Alexander († 1947)
  • Lady Elisabeth Campbell (1853–1896) ⚭ 1880 Lt.-Col. Edward Harrison Clough-Taylor († 1921)
  • Lord Colin Campbell (1853–1895) ⚭ 1881–1884 (marriage annulled) Gertrude Elizabeth Blood (1857–1911)
  • Lady Victoria Campbell (1854–1910), unmarried
  • Lady Evelyn Campbell (1855–1940) ⚭ 1886 James Baillie-Hamilton (1850–1921)
  • Lady Frances Campbell (1858–1931) ⚭ 1879 Colonel Eustace James Anthony Balfour (1854–1911)
  • Lady Mary Emma Campbell (1859–1947) ⚭ 1882 Rt. Rev. Hon. Edward Carr Glyn (1843–1928)
  • Lady Constance Harriett Campbell (1864–1922) ⚭ 1891 Charles Emmott (1861–1910)

After the death of his first wife, George Campbell married twice; In 1881 Amelia Maria Claughton (1843–1894) and Ina Erskine McNeill († 1925) in 1895. Both marriages remained childless.

Dun Boraige Moire was excavated by the Duke of Argyll in 1880.

During 1900, Campbell's health deteriorated noticeably. His chronic kidney disease and the death of several friends and companions robbed him of vitality and will to live. In the spring of 1900 the situation came to a head and he died on April 24th that year.

Works (selection)

His great interest in science and education for Scotland led to the Education Act in 1872 and he wrote various books with a scientific and religious background.

  • 1867 The Reign of Law
  • 1869 Primeval Man: An Examination of some Recent Speculations
  • 1879 The Eastern Question
  • 1884 The Unity of Nature
  • 1887 Scotland As It Was and As It Is
  • 1893 The Unseen Foundations of Society. An Examination of the Fallacies and Failures of Economic Science Due to Neglected Elements
  • 1906 Autobiography and Memoirs , posthumous

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed October 15, 2019 .
  2. ^ Entry on Campbell; George Douglas (1823-1900); 8th Duke of Argyll in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
predecessor Office successor
Henry Campbell Duke of Argyll
(Peerage of Scotland)
1847-1900 		John Campbell
New title created Duke of Argyll
(Peerage of the United Kingdom)
1892-1900 		John Campbell
Robert Dundas Chancellor of the University of St Andrews
1851-1900 		Alexander Bruce
James Gascoyne-Cecil Lord Privy Seal
1852–1855 		Dudley Ryder
Archibald Montgomerie Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow
1854-1856 		Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Charles Canning Postmaster General
1855-1858 		Charles Abbot
Charles Yorke Lord Privy Seal
1859-1866 		James Howard Harris
John Campbell Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire
1862-1900 		John Campbell
Stafford Northcote Secretary of State for India
1868-1874 		Robert Gascoyne-Cecil
Algernon Percy Lord Privy Seal
1859-1866 		Chichester Parkinson-Fortescue
personal data
SURNAME Campbell, George, 8th Duke of Argyll
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Campbell, George John Douglas, 8th Duke of Argyll; Campbell, George, Marquess of Kintyre and Lorne
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British nobleman and politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Ardencaple Castle , Helensburgh
DATE OF DEATH April 24, 1900
Place of death Inveraray Castle , Argyllshire