Colin McIver Campbell (born 31 August 1938) is a Scottish politician and military historian. He was a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP)

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

(MSP) for West of Scotland region from 1999 to 2003. Campbell is a former history teacher and secondary school headmaster.

Early life

Campbell was born on 31 August 1938 in Paisley, Scotland. Campbell was educated at

Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. The school is recognised as one of Scotland's ...

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, and

Jordanhill College of Education Jordanhill Campus is an historic estate within the boundaries of Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland, which developed as a country estate. It is best known and most recently used as the home to the Faculty of Education of the University of Strathc ...

Career in education

Campbell worked in education from 1961 until 1989, teaching history at

Hillhead High School Hillhead High School is a day school in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow. Admissions It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow. History Grammar school Until 1972 it was a co-educational selectiv ...

in Glasgow, at

Greenock Academy The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland, founded in 1855, originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only for ages eleven t ...

, and becoming the first Deputy Head of Merksworth High School in Paisley. He spent twelve years as Head Teacher of Westwood Secondary, Easterhouse. He has lived in

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry. History ...

, West Renfrewshire since 1963.

Political career

He joined the SNP in 1976. He was a member of the Party's National Executive and National Council and the Local Government Committee. He stood unsuccessfully as a SNP candidate in elections for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

on three occasions: for Renfrew West and Inverclyde in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, then for West Renfrewshire in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. He twice stood for election to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

in Strathclyde West, losing to Labour's Hugh McMahon in both

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. In the 1999 Scottish election, he stood as a constituency candidate in West Renfrewshire, where he finished second behind Labour's

Trish Godman Patricia Godman (née Leonard; 31 October 1939 – 21 July 2019) was a Scottish Labour Party politician who served as Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament from 2003 to 2011. She was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for ...

. He was elected by the regional list. In Holyrood, he was defence spokesman for the SNP. He did not stand for election in 2003.

Personal life

He is married and has 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.

Works

Campbell has an interest in military history. * Co-author of ''Can't Shoot a Man With a Cold, Lt E A Mackintosh MC 1893-1917, Poet of the Highland Division'': Colin Campbell & Rosalind Green, Argyll Publishing 2004. * Author of ''Engine of Destruction. The 51st (Highland) Division in the Great War'' Argyll Publishing 2013

References

External links

* 1938 births Living people People educated at Paisley Grammar School Scottish schoolteachers Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Scottish National Party parliamentary candidates {{MSP-stub