Patrick Campbell (1684–1751)

Lieutenant-General Patrick Campbell (c. 1684 – 18 February 1751),^[1][2] also known as Peter Campbell,^[3] was a Scottish politician from Kintyre in Argyll. He was also an officer in the British Army.

Early life

Campbell was the second son of Duncan Campbell of Whitestone, Kintyre. His mother Barbara was a daughter of Hector McAlester of Loup, Argyll.^[3]

Army career

He was a major in 4th (Scots) Horse Guards in 1711, and a lieutenant colonel in 1712. He was promoted to brigadier-general in 1735, major-general in 1739, and Lieutenant-general in 1743.^[3] He also served as gentleman of the buttery from 1721 until his death, and as Lieutenant-Governor of Portsmouth from 1733 to his death.^[3]

Parliament

His family were supporters of the 2nd Duke of Argyll, who organised his unopposed return in 1722 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Buteshire.^[3] The county seat, whose patron was the county's hereditary sheriff the Earl of Bute,^[4] was an alternating constituency with Caithness. At the 1727 general election it was the turn of Caithness to fill the seat,^[2] and Campbell filled a vacancy in the Elgin Burghs.

The Elgin Burghs were dominated by the Earls of Kintore and the Earls of Findlater. Their rival candidates had contested the 1722 result with an election petition which took two years to resolve in favour of John Campbell (1st cousin of the Duke of Argyll, supported by Findlater) over the Jacobite candidate William Fraser.^[5]

However, by 1727, the 3rd Earl of Kintore was keen to regain some of the privileges which had been stripped from his father after the latter's support for the 1715 Jacobite rising, and sought to win favour with the Duke of Argyll. He therefore supported Argyll's preferred candidate William Steuart, who was returned unopposed. However, Steuart was also returned for the Ayr Burghs, for which he chose to sit.^[1] At the resulting by-election in March 1728, Campbell was returned unopposed.^[5]

At the 1734 election, Campell was again returned unopposed for Buteshire. He held the seat until the 1741 general election.^[2][3]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 1)
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 6)
3. Simpson, J. M. (1970). R. Sedgwick, ed. "CAMPBELL, Patrick (1684-1751), of South Hall, Argyll". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
4. Simpson, J. M. (1970). R. Sedgwick, ed. "Buteshire 1715–1754". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
5. Simpson, J. M. (1970). R. Sedgwick, ed. "Elgin Burghs 1715–1754". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 2 May 2015.