George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll Information & George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll Links at HealthHaven.com

His Grace
The Duke of Argyll
PC, KG, KT, FRS, FRSE
	His Grace; The Duke of Argyll ; PC, KG, KT, FRS, FRSE
	; The Duke of Argyll (c. 1860); by George Frederic Watts.
Lord Privy Seal
	In office; 4 January 1853 – 7 December 1855
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Aberdeen; The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
Succeeded by	The Earl of Harrowby
	In office; 18 June 1859 – 26 June 1866
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston; The Earl Russell
Preceded by	The Earl of Hardwicke
Succeeded by	The Earl of Malmesbury
	In office; 28 April 1880 – 2 May 1881
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Gladstone
Preceded by	The Duke of Northumberland
Succeeded by	The Lord Carlingford
Postmaster General
	In office; 30 November 1855 – 21 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	The Viscount Canning
Succeeded by	The Lord Colchester
Secretary of State for India
	In office; 9 December 1868 – 17 February 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Gladstone
Preceded by	Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
Born	30 April 1823; Ardencaple Castle, Dunbartonshire
Died	24 April 1900; Inverary Castle, Argyll
Citizenship	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Nationality	Scottish
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	(1) Lady Elizabeth Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (1824-1878); (2) Amelia Claughton; (1843-1894); (3) Ina McNeill; (d. 1925)

George John Douglas Campbell, 1st & 8th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, PC, FRS, FRSE (30 April 1823 – 24 April 1900), styled Marquess of Lorne until 1847, was a Scottish peer, Liberal politician as well as a writer on science, religion, and the politics of the 19th century.

[edit] Background

Argyll was born at Ardencaple Castle, Dunbartonshire, the second but only surviving son of John Campbell, 7th Duke of Argyll and his second wife Joan Glassel, the only daughter of John Glassel.^[1] Argyll succeeded his father as duke in 1847.^[1] With his death he became also hereditary Master of the Household of Scotland and Sheriff of Argyllshire.^[1]

[edit] Political career

A close associate of Prince Albert, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1852 and 1855 in the cabinet of Lord Aberdeen, and then as Postmaster General between 1855 and 1858 in Lord Palmerston's first cabinet. 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.

In William Gladstone's first government of 1868 to 1874, Argyll became Secretary of State for India, in which role his refusal to promise support against the Russians to the Emir of Afghanistan helped lead to the Second Afghan War. Argyll's wife, née Lady Elizabeth Georgiana Leveson-Gower, also served as Mistress of the Robes in this government. In 1871, while actually serving in the Cabinet, his son and heir, Lord Lorne, married one of Queen Victoria's daughters, Princess Louise, enhancing his status as a leading Grandee.

In 1880 he again served under Gladstone, as Lord 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 in response to terrorism.^[2] In 1886, he fully broke with Gladstone over the question of the Prime Minister's support for Irish Home Rule, although he did not join the Liberal Unionist Party, but pursued an independent course. Having been already Vice Lord Lieutenant from 1847,^[1] Argyll held the honorary post of Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire from 1862 until his death in 1900. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1853,^[3] appointed a Knight of the Thistle in 1856^[4] and a Knight of the Garter in 1883. In 1892 he was created Duke of Argyll in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.^[5]

[edit] Scholarship

Argyll was also a scientist, or at least a publicist on scientific matters, especially evolution and economics. He was a leader in the scholarly opposition against Darwinism (1869, 1884b) and an important reality-based (i.e., heterodox, non-classical) economist (1893) and institutionalist (1884a), in which latter capacity he was quite similar to his political opponent, Benjamin Disraeli. While some of his works seemed quite strangely reactionary and obsolete at the times and for many decades, recent trends in scholarship - in evolutionary and institutional economics, as well as in ("post-genomic") biology - have led to some very positive reevaluation of his work. Though regarded by some professional scientists as to a certain extent an amateur, his ability, knowledge, and dialectic power made him a formidable antagonist, and enabled him to exercise a useful, generally conservative, influence on scientific thought and progress. In 1851, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and was appointed Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. Three years later, he became additionally Rector of the University of Glasgow.^[1]

[edit] Family

Argyll was married three times. He married firstly Lady Elizabeth Georgiana, eldest daughter of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, in 1844.^[1] They had six sons and seven daughters. Their fifth son Lord Colin Campbell was a politician. After Elizabeth's death in May 1878, aged 53, he married secondly Amelia Maria, daughter of the Right Reverend Thomas Claughton (Bishop of St Albans) and widow of Augustus Anson, in 1881. After her death in January 1894, aged 50, he married thirdly Ina, daughter of Archibald McNeill, in 1895. There were no children from his last two marriages. Argyll died at Inverary Castle in April 1900, six days before his 77th birthday, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, John. The Duchess of Argyll died in December 1925.^[6]

[edit] 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.
(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.
(1906) Autobiography and Memoirs

[edit] References

Wikisource has original works written by or about: George John Douglas Campbell

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co.. pp. 92.
^ Partridge, Michael (2003), Gladstone, Routledge, p. 192, ISBN 9780415216265, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uW_R5206cjIC&pg=PA192
^ London Gazette: no. 21399, p. 29, 4 January 1853.
^ London Gazette: no. 21881, p. 1680, 6 May 1856.
^ London Gazette: no. 26276, p. 2082, 8 April 1892.
^ thepeerage.com George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll

[edit] External links

Archival material relating to George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll listed at the UK National Register of Archives

Political offices
Preceded by The Marquess of Salisbury	Lord Privy Seal 1852 – 1855	Succeeded by The Earl of Harrowby
Preceded by The Viscount Canning	Postmaster General 1855 – 1858	Succeeded by The Lord Colchester
Preceded by The Earl of Hardwicke	Lord Privy Seal 1859 – 1866	Succeeded by The Earl of Malmesbury
Preceded by Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt	Secretary of State for India 1868 – 1874	Succeeded by The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Duke of Northumberland	Lord Privy Seal 1880 – 1881	Succeeded by The Lord Carlingford
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Marquess of Breadalbane	Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire 1862 – 1900	Succeeded by The Duke of Argyll
Academic offices
Preceded by The Viscount Melville	Chancellor of the University of St Andrews 1851 – 1900	Succeeded by The Lord Balfour of Burleigh
Preceded by The Earl of Eglinton	Rector of the University of Glasgow 1854 – 1856	Succeeded by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Bt
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by John Campbell	Duke of Argyll 1847 – 1900	Succeeded by John Campbell
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Duke of Argyll 1892 – 1900	Succeeded by John Campbell

[Dod-0] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co.. pp. 92.

[1] Partridge, Michael (2003), Gladstone, Routledge, p. 192, ISBN 9780415216265, http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=uW_R5206cjIC&pg=PA192

[2] London Gazette: no. 21399, p. 29, 4 January 1853.

[3] London Gazette: no. 21881, p. 1680, 6 May 1856.

[4] London Gazette: no. 26276, p. 2082, 8 April 1892.

[5] thepeerage.com George Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

Contents