John Francis Campbell (
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
: Iain Frangan Caimbeul;
Islay
Islay ( ; gd, Ìle, sco, Ila) is the southernmost island of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Known as "The Queen of the Hebrides", it lies in Argyll just south west of Jura, Scotland, Jura and around north of the Northern Irish coast. The isl ...
, 29 December 1821 –
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
, 17 February 1885), also known as Young John of Islay (
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...
: Iain Òg Ìle) was a Scottish author and scholar who specialised in
Celtic studies
Celtic studies or Celtology is the academic discipline occupied with the study of any sort of cultural output relating to the Celtic-speaking peoples (i.e. speakers of Celtic languages). This ranges from linguistics, literature and art histor ...
, considered an authority on the subject.
Early life
John Francis Campbell was born on Islay on 29 December 1821 to Lady Eleanor Charteris (1796–1832), eldest daughter of
Francis Wemyss Charteris Douglas, and
Walter Frederick Campbell
Walter Frederick Campbell of Shawfield (sometimes given "of Islay") (1798–1855), was a Scottish politician. He served as the MP for Argyllshire, 1822–1832 and 1835–1841.
Early life and political career
He was born on 10 April 1798, th ...
of Islay (1798–1855), MP for Argyll.
[ Campbell was a descendant (great-great-great-grandson) of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield who had bought Islay from the Campells of Cawdor, for £12,000 in 1726.
Campbell was his father's heir, but creditors forced the island of Islay into administration, and the family left in 1847. After his father's death he was known as Campbell of Islay, even though the island had by then been sold.
]
Education and early career
Campbell was educated at Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and the University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
.[
He was called to the ]bar
Bar or BAR may refer to:
Food and drink
* Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages
* Candy bar
* Chocolate bar
Science and technology
* Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment
* Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud
* Bar (u ...
at the Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
1851, and appointed private secretary
A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family.
The role exists in t ...
to the Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal (or, more formally, the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal) is the fifth of the Great Officers of State (United Kingdom), Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and abov ...
in 1853. He was assistant secretary to the General Board of Health
Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulate environment ...
in 1854, he became secretary to the Trinity House
"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location = Deptford, London, England
, status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, he ...
Royal Commission of Lighthouses in London 1859. In 1861 he was Groom of the Privy Chamber
Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...
.[
]
Celtic studies
Campbell was known as an authority on Celtic folklore[ and of the Gaelic peoples.
His most well-known published work is the bilingual '']Popular Tales of the West Highlands
''Popular Tales of the West Highlands'' is a four-volume collection of fairy tales, collected and published by John Francis Campbell, and often translated from Gaelic. Alexander Carmichael was one of the main contributors. The collection in four ...
'' (4 vols., 1860–62)[
He dedicated ''Popular Tales of the West Highlands'' to the son of my Chief, the ]Marquess of Lorne
A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...
.
In 1872 he self-published ''Leabhar na Feinne'', a collection of heroic ballads culled from manuscripts held by libraries, but to his chagrin this endeavor failed to meet with success.
He travelled extensively throughout the Scottish Highlands
The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Sco ...
and Islands with his scribes, scrupulously recording West Highland tales, Fenian
The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...
ballads, songs, charms and anecdotes.
He was proficient in Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
, Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
, Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
, Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
, Lapp, Italian, Spanish and German. He travelled extensively, especially in Europe and Scandinavia. In 1874 he embarked on a year-long world tour that took him to America, Japan, China, Java, Ceylon and India.[
''The Celtic Dragon Myth'' was published posthumously in 1911. Campbell had started preliminary work on ''The Celtic Dragon Myth'' in 1862, and work intensified on it from 1870 until 1884. After Campbell's death in 1885 the noted Gaelic scholar George Henderson contributed some translation work, provided an introduction, and completed the editing of the manuscript for its eventual publication in 1911.
]
Inventions
Campbell held a lifelong interest in the sciences, especially geology and meteorology
Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...
. He invented the meteorological sunshine recorder or thermograph that bears his name as the Campbell–Stokes recorder.[
]
Visit to Japan
Campbell was acquainted with Colin Alexander McVean
Colin Alexander McVean, FRGS (6 March 1838 – 18 January 1912) was a Scottish civil engineer who made a considerable contribution to Japan's engineering development in 1870s.
He left two brief autobiographies, diaries, photos, letters and a co ...
, a Scottish engineer hired by Japan's Public Works as chief surveyor, and visited sights around Tokyo with McVean at the end of 1874, including Nikko. During the observation of the Venus transit
frameless, upright=0.5
A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a trans ...
by the Meiji government on 9 December 1874, he superintended a theodolite on the Gotenyama Hill site in Tokyo. He travelled through the central part of Honshu
, historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...
to Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
, then left Japan from Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
in February 1875. He bought Japanese antiques and showed them in London to friends including Frank Dillion.
Later life
He is buried under a replica of Islay's treasured Kildalton Cross
The Kildalton Cross is a monolithic high cross in Celtic cross form in the churchyard of the former parish church of Kildalton (from Scottish Gaelic ''Cill Daltain'', "Church of the Foster Son" (i.e. St John the Evangelist) on the island of I ...
in the Grand Jas Cemetery
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and co ...
(le cimetière "du Grand Jas") at Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...
.
Campbell never married.
References
;Citations
{{reflist, 30em, refs=
[{{citation, author=Anon. , title=Death of John F. Campbell of Islay , journal=The Celtic Magazine , volume=10 , date=1885 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcARAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA249 , pages=249–250]
[{{Cite EB1911, wstitle=Campbell, John Francis, noicon=x]
[{{Cite SBDEL, wstitle=Campbell, John Francis, noicon=x]
;Bibliography
{{refbegin
* {{citation, last=Bennett , first=Margaret , author-link=Margaret Bennett (writer) , title=John Francis Campbell of Islay: Iain Og Ile , journal=Journal of the Clan Campbell Society , number=29 , date=2002 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4U0ZAQAAMAAJ&q=%22iain+og%22 , pages=11–13
* {{citation, last=Thompson , first=Francis , author-link=Francis Thompson , title=John Francis Campbell (1821-1885) , journal=Folklore , volume=101 , number=1 , date=1990 , url= , pages=88–96 , doi=10.1080/0015587X.1990.9715781 , jstor=1259886
{{refend
External links
{{Commons category-inline
{{refbegin
A Short Biography of John Francis Campbell
An Article on John Francis Campbell's Life
{{refend
{{Authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, John Francis
1822 births
1885 deaths
Collectors of fairy tales
19th-century Scottish writers
People from Islay
Scottish Gaelic language
Translators from Scottish Gaelic
19th-century British translators
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Scottish lawyers
Scottish folk-song collectors
Scottish folklorists
19th-century musicologists