George John Douglas Campbell, 8th and 1st Duke of Argyll (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900; styledMarquess of Lorne until 1847), was aScottishpolymath andLiberal statesman. He made a significant geological discovery in the 1850s when his tenant found fossilised leaves embedded among basalt lava on the Island of Mull. He also helped to populariseornithology and was one of the first to give a detailed account of the principles of bird flight in the hopes of advancinghuman flight. 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 ofLord Aberdeen,Lord Palmerston,John Russell andWilliam Gladstone.
Argyll was born atArdencaple Castle,Dunbartonshire, the second but only surviving son ofJohn Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyll, and his second wifeJoan Glassel, the only daughter of John Glassel.[1] Argyll succeeded his father asDuke of Argyll (Peerage of Scotland) in 1847.[1] With his death he became also hereditaryMaster of the Household of Scotland andSheriff of Argyllshire.[1]
He owned 175,000 acres in Argyll and Dumbarton.[2]
By the time of his succession, Argyll had already obtained notice as a writer of pamphlets on thedisruption of the Church of Scotland, which he strove to avert, and he rapidly became prominent on theLiberal side in parliamentary politics via thePeeliteConservative Party faction. He was a frequent and eloquent speaker in the House of Lords.[3] A close associate ofPrince Albert, he served asLord Privy Seal between 1852 and 1855 in the cabinet ofLord Aberdeen, and then asPostmaster General between 1855 and 1858 inLord Palmerston's first cabinet.
He was again Lord Privy Seal between 1859 and 1866 in the second Palmerston administration, and then underLord Russell's second administration, in which position he was notable as a strong advocate of the Northern cause in theAmerican 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.
InWilliam Ewart Gladstone's first government of 1868 to 1874, Argyll becameSecretary of State for India, in which role his refusal to promise support against the Russians to the emir ofAfghanistan helped lead to theSecond Afghan War.[3]
Argyll's wife (néeLady Elizabeth Georgiana Leveson-Gower), served asMistress of the Robes in this government.[citation needed]
Argyll also played a key role in the establishment of theRoyal Indian Engineering College which functioned from 1872 to 1906. This college which was located on the Coopers Hill estate, near Egham was set up in order to train civil engineers for service in the IndianPublic Works Department. In 1871, while actually serving in the Cabinet, his son and heir,Lord Lorne, married one ofQueen Victoria's daughters,Princess Louise, enhancing his status as a leading grandee.
In 1880 he again served under Gladstone, asLord Privy Seal, but resigned on 31 March 1881 in protest at Gladstone's Land Bill, claiming it would interfere with the rights of landlords and had been brought in response to terrorism.[4] In 1886, he fully broke with Gladstone over the question of the prime minister's support forIrish Home Rule, although he did not join theLiberal Unionist Party, but pursued an independent course. Having been alreadyVice Lord Lieutenant from 1847,[1] Argyll held the honorary post ofLord Lieutenant of Argyllshire from 1862 until his death in 1900. He was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1853,[5] appointed aKnight of the Thistle in 1856[6] and aKnight of the Garter in 1883. In 1892 he was createdDuke of Argyll in thePeerage of the United Kingdom.[7]
Argyll was also an amateur scientist dedicated to many areas of science. Aside from his own work inornithology, he wrote onanthropology,evolution,glaciology andeconomics. He was a leader in the scholarly opposition againstDarwinism (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 aFellow of the Royal Society and was appointedChancellor of the University of St Andrews. Three years later, he became additionallyRector of the University of Glasgow.[1] In 1849 he was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh and served as its president from 1860 to 1864.[8] In 1855 he became president of theBritish Association for the Advancement of Science. From 1872 to 1874 he wasPresident of The Geological Society. In 1866, he was a founding member of Britain's first aeronautical society, theAeronautical Society of Great Britain (later renamed the Royal Aeronautical Society),[9] and served as its president from 1866 to 1895. He was elected a member of theAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1869.[10] In 1886, he was elected as a member to theAmerican Philosophical Society.[11]
Argyll was married three times. He married firstlyLady Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, eldest daughter ofGeorge Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, in 1844.[1] They had five sons and seven daughters, being:[12]
The Duchess of Argyll died aged 53 in May 1878. In 1881, Argyll married Amelia Maria (born 1843), daughter of the Right ReverendThomas Claughton,Bishop of St Albans, and widow ofAugustus 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 atInveraray Castle in April 1900, six days before his 77th birthday, and is buried atKilmun Parish Church. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest sonJohn.[citation needed]
Argyll Road inPenang,Malaysia is named in his honour.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Yorke, Philip Chesney;Chisholm, Hugh (1911). "Argyll, Earls and Dukes of s.v. George John Douglas Campbell, 8th duke". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 486.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1852–1855 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Postmaster General 1855–1858 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1859–1866 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for India 1868–1874 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Lord Privy Seal 1880–1881 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire 1862–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of St Andrews 1851–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Rector of the University of Glasgow 1854–1856 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Scotland | ||
| Preceded by | Duke of Argyll 1847–1900 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Duke of Argyll 1892–1900 | Succeeded by |
