John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named John Campbell, see John Campbell (disambiguation).

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Loudoun
John Campbell
John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun
Lord Chancellor of Scotland
Personal details
Born1598
DiedMarch 1662
SpouseMargaret Campbell
Children4

John Campbell, 1st

Covenanter
.

As a young man Campbell travelled abroad. In 1620 married the heiress of the barony of Loudoun; in his wife's right, took his seat in the

Monck when it became obvious that further resistance was futile. He was excepted from Cromwell's Act of Grace in 1654 and heavily fined by Charles II in 1662.[1]

Biography

Campbell, was the eldest son of Sir

James VI of Scotland.[2]

In 1620 Campbell married Margaret, the eldest daughter of George Campbell, master of Loudoun. Upon the death of her grandfather,

Supplicants", and presented a petition on their behalf.[2]

In 1638 the "tables" were formed and the covenant renewed. In these proceedings Loudoun took a very prominent part, and being elected elder for the

Pacification of Berwick, which was concluded on 18 June 1639.[2]

John Campbell

On 3 March 1640 Loudoun and the

General Leslie, but was not dated. Loudoun protested without avail that it had been written before the pacification of Berwick, that it had never been sent, and that if he had committed any offence, he ought to be questioned for it in Scotland and not in England. According to Dr. Birch, a warrant was made out for Loudoun's execution without trial, but this has not been sufficiently corroborated, and after some months' confinement in the Tower he was liberated upon the intercession of James, Marquis of Hamilton, and returned to Scotland.[4]

On 21 August in the same year the Scottish army entered England, and Loudoun with it. He took part in the Battle of Newburn on 28 August, and was one of the Scottish commissioners at Ripon in the following October. Having come to an agreement for the cessation of hostilities on the 25th of the same month, the further discussion of the treaty was adjourned to London, where the Scottish commissioners "were highly caressed by the parliament".[5]

In August 1641 the King opened the Parliament of Scotland in person, the treaty with England was ratified, and offices and titles of honour were conferred on the "prime covenanters who were thought most capable to do him service".

Archbishop of St. Andrews, had been kept by the Marquis of Hamilton. A pension of £1,000 a year was also granted him, and his title of Earl of Loudoun was allowed him, with precedency from the date of the original grant. When the king found that the estates would not give their consent to the nomination either of the Earl of Morton or of Lord Almond, as lord high treasurer, the treasury was put into commission, and Loudoun appointed the first commissioner.[5]

In 1642 Loudoun was sent by the conservators of the peace to offer mediation between the king and the English parliament. He had several conferences with Charles at York, but, failing in the object of his mission, returned to Scotland. After the outbreak of the

Charles II at Scone on 1 January 1650, and was present at the Battle of Dunbar, where some of his letters to Charles II fell into Cromwell's hands. These letters were afterwards published by the order of the English Parliament.[5]

After the

George Monck, whose brilliant success had demonstrated the uselessness of further resistance on the part of the Royalists. Loudoun and his eldest son, Lord Mauchline, were both excepted out of Cromwell's act of indemnity, by which £400 was settled on the Countess Loudoun and her heirs out of her husband's estates. Upon the Restoration, notwithstanding all that Loudoun had suffered for the royal cause, he was deprived of the chancellorship, which had been granted to him "ad vitam aut culpam"; his pension, however, was still continued to him.[5]

In the first session of parliament in 1661 he spoke strongly in defence of his friend, the Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll, who was then under an impeachment for high treason. Argyll was executed, and Loudoun became apprehensive lest he too might share the same fate. In the following year, by an act "containing some exceptions from the Act of Indemnite",[6] he was fined £12,000 (Scottish pounds). He died at Edinburgh on 15 March 1663, and was buried in the Loudoun Kirk, in what is now East Ayrshire.[6]

Several of his speeches were printed in the form of pamphlets, and will be found among the political tracts in the British Museum.[6]

Family

With his wife, Margaret, who survived him, Loudoun had two sons and two daughters. His eldest son,

Marquis of Hastings. Upon the death of Henry, 4th Marquis of Hastings, in 1868, his eldest sister Edith became the Countess of Loudoun, and the title passed to her son Charles, 11th Earl of Loudoun.[6]

Bibliography

References

Citations

  1. ^ Lee 1903.
  2. ^ a b c Barker 1886, p. 364.
  3. ^ Barker 1886, p. 364 cites Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, v. 20–21
  4. ^ Barker 1886, pp. 364–365.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Barker 1886, p. 365.
  6. ^ a b c d e Barker 1886, p. 366.

Sources

Attribution
Academic offices
Preceded by
John Spottiswoode
Archbishop of St Andrews
 Chancellor of the University of St Andrews
1643–1661 		Succeeded by
James Sharp
Archbishop of St Andrews
Political offices
Preceded by Lord Chancellor of Scotland
1641–1652/1660 		Succeeded by
Peerage of Scotland
New creation Earl of Loudoun
1633–1662 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Campbell of Loudoun
1619–1661
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Campbell,_1st_Earl_of_Loudoun&oldid=1162850445"