James Campbell (British Army officer, died 1745)

Lieutenant-General Sir James Campbell, KB (c. 1680 – May 11 1745) was a Scottish military officer and Whig politician who sat in the British House of Commons from 1727 to 1741 and served as the governor of Edinburgh Castle from 1738 to 1745. A distinguished cavalry officer, Campbell served in two major British conflicts on the European continent during the first half of the Georgian era, in addition to sitting in the Parliament of Great Britain.

Sir
James Campbell
KB
Governor of Edinburgh Castle
In office
1738–1745
MonarchGeorge II
Preceded byLord Ross
Succeeded byLord Mark Kerr
Member of Parliament
for Ayrshire
In office
1727–1741
Preceded byJohn Montgomerie
Succeeded byPatrick Craufurd
Personal details
Bornc. 1680
Lawers, Perthshire
DiedMay 11, 1745(1745-05-11) (aged 64–65)
Antoing, Austrian Netherlands
Spouse(s)Lady Jean Boyle Mure
(m. 1720)
Children2, including James
Military service
Allegiance Great Britain
Branch/service British Army
RankLieutenant-General
Battles/wars

Born c. 1680 in Lawers, Perthshire into an aristocratic family, Campbell enlisted in the Foot Guards regiment of the Scottish Army at thirteen years of age. When the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, Campbell served in Europe as a captain in the Royal Scots Fusiliers and Royal North British Dragoons, seeing action at the battles of Blenheim, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. After the conflict's end, Campbell started dabbling in political affairs.

In 1727, Campbell was appointed Groom of the Chamber by George II of Great Britain in recognition of his military accomplishments. Campbell sat in Parliament in the same year after running unopposed in that year's general election. A steadfast Whig in politics, Campbell continued to climb the British Army's ranks, being appointed governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1738, and sat in the House of Commons until the general election of 1741.

In 1742, war broke out again and Campbell accompanied a British expedition to Germany, where he participated in the Battle of Dettingen and was knighted. Campbell continued to serve in Europe, and served in the Pragmatic Alliance army which confronted a French force near Antoing in 1745. During the battle, Campbell led several unsuccessful cavalry charges, and died of his wounds soon after a French cannonball tore off his leg.

Early life

James Campbell was born c. 1680 in Lawers, Perthshire.[1] His father, James Campbell, 2nd Earl of Loudoun, was an aristocrat and son of noted Covenanter John Campbell.[2] Campbell's mother was Lady Margaret Montgomerie, the daughter of landowner Hugh Montgomerie, 7th Earl of Eglinton.[1] His brother, Hugh Campbell, would go on to serve as the last Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Scotland prior to the Acts of Union.[3]

In September 1693, when he was approximately thirteen years old, Campbell enlisted in the Scottish Regiment of Foot Guards as a lieutenant. After six years of service, Campbell was promoted to the rank of captain on July 1699. In 1701, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out; the next year, Campbell was transferred to the Royal Scots Fusiliers, renewing his officer's commission in the process.[1]

Campbell was then sent along with the rest of his regiment to Europe, where they fought in the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704, a decisive victory for the Grand Alliance (of which the Kingdom of Scotland was a part). In August 1706, Campbell was transferred again, this time to the Royal North British Dragoons at the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He then fought at the battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet, both Allied victories.[1]

Political career

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed between the Grand Alliance and the Kingdom of France, bringing British involvement in the conflict to an end (the kingdoms of Scotland and England having been united into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707).[4] After the treaty was signed, Campbell started becoming involved in British political affairs, joining forces with his brother Hugh in supporting the Hanoverian Succession to Queen Anne.[1]

In 1715, Campbell was transferred to Henry Cornewall's Regiment of Foot at the rank of colonel; two years later, he was transferred back to the Royal North British Dragoons at the same rank. When George II of Great Britain succeeded his father to the British throne in 1727, he appointed Campbell to the position of Groom of the Chamber, a high-ranking position in Britain's royal household, in recognition of his "military gallantry".[1]

In the same year, Campbell became a Member of Parliament, running unopposed for the parliamentary constituency of Ayrshire at the 1727 British general election "through the influence of his brother." Campbell continued to sit in the House of Commons of Great Britain until the 1741 British general election, when he was defeated by Patrick Craufurd, an anti-Walpole politician supported by John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll.[1][5]

Campbell continued to serve in the British Army during this period, though as historian Henry Morse Stephens noted, the tenure of Robert Walpole as British Prime Minister "prevented Campbell from seeing service for twenty-eight years". In 1735, Campbell was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, and four years later in 1739 he was promoted again to the rank of Major-General.[1]

In 1738, Campbell was appointed to the position of governor of Edinburgh Castle, succeeding nobleman George Ross, 13th Lord Ross.[1] The castle was host to a large garrison of British Army troops, whose affairs were supervised by the castle governor.[6] He continued to hold this position until his death, and was succeeded by Lord Mark Kerr in 1745.[7] During Campbell's tenure, a crow-stepped and classical residence for the governor, known as the Governor's House, was constructed inside Edinburgh Castle by military engineer Dugal Campbell in 1742.[8]

Later life and death
A painting of the Battle of Dettingen by John Wootton.

In 1740, the War of the Austrian Succession broke out, and two years later the British government made plans to dispatch a military expedition to the continent, as Britain was a member of the anti-French Pragmatic Alliance.[9] Campbell was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General and accompanied George II, who chose to lead the military expedition himself, to Germany as head of all British cavalry units present (including the Royal North British Dragoons).[1][10]

On 27 June 1743, a Pragmatic Alliance army encountered a French force at the village of Dettingen.[11] During the battle, Campbell led a cavalry charge against the Maison Militaire du Roi de France, the household troops of the French Royal Army, which played a major role in securing a victory for the Pragmatic Alliance. After the battle, George II personally invested Campbell as a knight of the Order of the Bath in recognition of his performance during the battle.[1]

The Pragmatic commanders proved unable to agree on how best to exploit their victory, and ended up doing nothing but quartering in the Dutch Republic as winter set in.[12] George II soon returned to England, though Campbell stayed, continuing to command the cavalry elements of the British expeditionary force.[1] In this, he was assisted by his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant John Forbes, who would later go on to serve in the French and Indian War in North America.[13]

On 9 May 1745, a large French army under the command of Maurice de Saxe encountered a Pragmatic force near Antoing in the Austrian Netherlands. Campbell, leading a large force consisting of British and Hanoverian cavalry, successfully pushed French troops out of the hamlets of Vezon and Bourgeon the next day. His deputy, the Earl of Crawford, then recommended that infantry be used to clear the Bois de Barry forest, though the plan was soon abandoned when Dutch hussars were driven off by hidden French troops.[14]

On the next day, both sides formed up lines as the Duke of Cumberland ordered a massed infantry assault against entrenched French positions. As the battle continued to rage on in the day, Campbell led numerous unsuccessful cavalry charges against the French lines. As the day was nearing its end, Campbell was hit in the leg by a cannon shot from French artillery fire, which tore it off. Campbell died of his wounds as he was being put into a litter; his corpse was subsequently transported to the city of Brussels, where it was buried.[1][15]

Personal life and family

During his political career, Campbell consistently supported the Whigs, which dominated the British political scene during the Georgian era.[16] In his political career, Campbell was held in high regard, even by his political opponents; when Craufurd successfully defeated him in the 1741 general elections, Campbell's political opponents spread propaganda that he was unwilling to stand for election in the first place, but had been pushed to become involved in politics by his brother, the politician Archibald Campbell, 1st Earl of Ilay, and elements in the British royal court.[5]

As part of his military career, Campbell undertook numerous recruitment campaigns in Scotland for the British Army. During these campaigns, Campbell would frequently be accompanied by his aides-de-camps who would provide assistance; together, they would occasionally make detours to take care of personal affairs, such as visiting tailors and frequenting coffeehouses. According to British historian John Oliphant, harmonious relations between military officers frequently "depended on informal, affectionate relationships like these."[17]

On 29 March 1720, Campbell married Lady Jean Boyle Mure, the eldest daughter of David Boyle, 1st Earl of Glasgow and his second wife Lady Jean Mure. Together, the couple had at least two children, a boy named James who was born on 11 February 1726, and a girl named either Elizabeth or Margaret who was born on 17 May 1727. Mure died just nine years later in Lawers on 19 December 1729, and was interred in the town of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire on 26 December; Campbell never remarried after her death.[1]

James' surname was changed to Mure-Campbell in 1729 in order to inherit the Rowallan estate near Kilmaurs, Ayrshire, which was owned by his grandmother.[15] After Campbell died at Fontenoy, James succeeded to his father's estate at Lawers, and in 1782 became the fifth Earl of Loudoun after the death of the fourth earl in the same year.[1][18] He would only hold the peerage for four years, dying in 1786.[19] The peerage was succeeded by his only child, Flora Mure-Campbell, 6th Countess of Loudoun, who would go on to marry the 1st Marquess of Hastings.[20][21]

References

Footnotes
  1. Stephens 2004.
  2. Braddick 2015, p. 117.
  3. Barker 2004.
  4. Elliott 2014, p. 9.
  5. Sedgwick 1970, pp. 521–522.
  6. MacIvor 1993, p. 82.
  7. Oates 2015, p. 116.
  8. Glendinning, MacInnes & MacKechnie 1996, p. 130.
  9. Harding 2013, p. 135.
  10. Grant 1972, p. 9.
  11. Brumwell 2006, p. 30.
  12. Anderson 1995, pp. 117–118.
  13. Oliphant 2015, p. 55.
  14. Oliphant 2015, p. 50.
  15. Irving 2012, pp. 93–94.
  16. Holmes & Szechi 2014, p. xi.
  17. Oliphant 2015, p. 48.
  18. Collinson 2002, p. 200.
  19. Namier & Brooke 1964, p. 471–472.
  20. Graham 2005, p. 92.
  21. Nelson 2005, p. 137.

Bibliography
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