Background
Campbell was the eldest son of Walter Campbell of Skipnish, and was born about 1671.
Campbell was the eldest son of Walter Campbell of Skipnish, and was born about 1671.
At the age of 22 he set up business in New England, before settling in Glasgow, where he traded tobacco for iron ore. He also engaged in the slave trade and in finance. He was very successful as a merchant, and in 1707 purchased the estate of Shawfield or Schawfield, in Rutherglen, from Sir James Hamilton.
He also came to possess the valuable estate of Woodhall, near Holytown.
A follower of the Duke of Argyll, he represented Inverary in the Scottish parliament from 1702 till the union, and was one of the commissioners who signed the treaty. He also sat in the first Parliament of Great Britain, 1707-1708, and represented the Glasgow burghs from 1716 to 1734.
Campbell had voted for the imposition of the malt tax in Scotland, and on this account the mob, after taking possession of the city and preventing the officers of excise from collecting it, proceeded to the Shawfield mansion and completely demolished the interior. The provost and magistrates were arrested on the ground of having favoured the mob, and Campbell received £9,000 from the city as compensation for the damages caused by the riot.
Soon afterwards he purchased the island of Islay, the sum obtained from the city forming a large part of the money paid for lieutenant
Campbell died on 8 June 1753, aged 82. Another grandson was Walter Campbell of Shawfield. Campbell"s biography A very canny Scot was written by Joanna Hill and Nicholas Bastin, and published in 2007.
1st Parliament of Great Britain. 6th Parliament of Great Britain. 7th Parliament of Great Britain.
5th Parliament of Great Britain.