George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll
Victoria | |
|---|---|
| Prime Minister | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Preceded by | Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 April 1823 Ardencaple Castle, Dunbartonshire, Scotland |
| Died | 24 April 1900 (aged 76) Inveraray Castle, Argyll, Scotland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouses | Amelia Claughton
(m. 1881; died 1894)Ina McNeill (m. 1895) |
| Children | 12, including Frances |
| Parents |
|
| Signature |  |
George John Douglas Campbell, 8th and 1st Duke of Argyll (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900; styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847), was a Scottish polymath and Liberal statesman. He made a significant geological discovery in the 1850s when his tenant found fossilized leaves embedded among basalt lava on the Island of Mull. He also helped to popularize ornithology and was one of the first to give a detailed account of the principles of bird flight in the hopes of advancing artificial aerial navigation (i.e. flying machines). His literary output was extensive writing on topics varying from science and theology to economy and politics. In addition to this, he served prominently in the administrations of Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, John Russell and William Gladstone.
Background
Argyll was born at
He owned 175,000 acres in Argyll and Dumbarton.[2]
Political career
By the time of his succession, Argyll had already obtained notice as a writer of pamphlets on the
He was again Lord Privy Seal between 1859 and 1866 in the second Palmerston administration, and then under Lord Russell's second administration, in which position he was notable as a strong advocate of the Northern cause in the American Civil War.
Argyll was a major catalyst of the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872. Under his leadership in 1866, the Argyll Commission looked into the Scottish schooling system and found it severely inadequate. The report – eventually finished in 1869 – was used to call for education reforms. As a result of this lobbying, the Education Act (Scotland) 1872 was passed making primary school education mandatory in Scotland for children aged between 5 and 13.
In
Argyll's wife (née Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Leveson-Gower), served as Mistress of the Robes in this government. [citation needed]
Argyll also played a key role in the establishment of the
In 1880 he again served under Gladstone, as
Scholarship
Argyll was also an amateur scientist dedicated to many areas of science. Aside from his own work in ornithology, he wrote on anthropology, evolution, glaciology and economics. He was a leader in the scholarly opposition against Darwinism (1869, 1884b) although he was not against the theory of evolution, Argyll argued instead for theistic evolution. He did argue against the erosive capability of glaciers (1873) and was an important economist (1893) and institutionalist (1884a), in which latter capacity he was quite similar to his political opponent, Benjamin Disraeli.
In 1851, he was elected a
Private life
Argyll was married three times. He married firstly Lady Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, eldest daughter of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, in 1844.[1] They had five sons and seven daughters, being:[12]
- John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll (6 August 1845 – 2 May 1914), married Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria on 21 March 1871.
- Lord Archibald Campbell (18 December 1846 – 29 March 1913), married Janey Callander on 12 January 1869. They had two children, including Niall Campbell, 10th Duke of Argyll.
- Lord Walter Campbell (30 July 1848 – 2 May 1889), married Olivia Rowlandson Milns on 14 April 1874. They had two children, including Douglas Walter Campbell, whose son was Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll.
- Lady Edith Campbell (7 November 1849 – 6 July 1913), married Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland on 23 December 1868. They had thirteen children.
- Lord George Granville Campbell (25 December 1850 – 21 April 1915), married Sybil Lascelles Alexander, daughter of James Brace Alexander, on 9 May 1879. They had three children.
- Lady Elisabeth Campbell (14 February 1852 – 24 September 1896) she married Lt.-Col. Edward Harrison Clough-Taylor on 17 July 1880. They had one daughter.
- Lord Colin Campbell (9 March 1853 – 18 June 1895), married Gertrude Blood in 1881.
- Lady Victoria Campbell (22 May 1854 – 6 July 1910).
- Lady Evelyn Campbell (17 August 1855 – 22 March 1940), married James Baillie-Hamilton on 10 August 1886.
- Lady Frances Campbell (22 February 1858 – 25 February 1931), married Eustace Balfour on 12 May 1879. They had five children.
- Lady Mary Emma Campbell (22 September 1859 – 22 March 1947), married Rt. Rev. Hon. Edward Carr Glyn on 4 July 1882. They had three children.
- Lady Constance Harriett Campbell (11 November 1864 – 9 February 1922), married Charles Emmott on 27 June 1891.
The Duchess of Argyll died aged 53 in May 1878. In 1881, Argyll married Amelia Maria (born 1843), daughter of the Right Reverend Thomas Claughton, Bishop of St Albans, and widow of Augustus Anson. She died aged 50 in January 1894. In 1895, Argyll married a third time, to Ina, daughter of Archibald McNeill. Ina survived the duke by a quarter of a century, dying in December 1925.[citation needed] There were no children from either the second or third marriages.
Argyll died at Inveraray Castle in April 1900, six days before his 77th birthday, and is buried at Kilmun Parish Church. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son John.[citation needed]
Legacy
Argyll Road in Penang, Malaysia is named in his honour.
Key works
- (1867) The Reign of Law. London: Strahan. (5th Ed. in 1868).
- (1869) Primeval Man: An Examination of some Recent Speculations. New York: Routledge.
- (1873) President's Anniversary Address. Proceedings of the Geological Society. pp. li - lxxviii.
- (1879) The Eastern Question. London: Strahan.
- (1884) The Unity of Nature. New York: Putnam.
- (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. London: John Murray.
- (1896) The Philosophy of Belief; Or, Law in Christian Theology
- (1898) Organic Evolution Cross-Examined
- (1906) Autobiography and Memoirs
References
- ^ a b c d e f Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co. p. 92.
- ^ The great landowners of Great Britain and Ireland
- ^ a b One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Yorke, Philip Chesney; Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Argyll, Earls and Dukes of s.v. George John Douglas Campbell, 8th duke". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 486.
- ISBN 978-0-415-21626-5.
- ^ "No. 21399". The London Gazette. 4 January 1853. p. 29.
- ^ "No. 21881". The London Gazette. 6 May 1856. p. 1680.
- ^ "No. 26276". The London Gazette. 8 April 1892. p. 2082.
- ISBN 090219884X. Archived from the original(PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
- ^ "RAeS History". Royal Aeronautical Society. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
- ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ The Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire as at Present Existing
External links
