Sir Matthew Campbell (23 May 1907 – 7 March 1998) was a senior British civil servant and Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland. He was highly instrumental in the establishment of the

Crofters Commission The Crofting Commission ( gd, Coimisean na Croitearachd) took the place of the Crofters Commission ( gd, Coimisean nan Croitearan) on 1 April 2012 as the statutory regulator for crofting in Scotland. Based in Inverness, it is an executive non-d ...

Early life

Matthew Campbell was born on 23 May 1907, son of nurseryman Matthew Campbell of High

Blantyre Blantyre () is Malawi's centre of finance and commerce, and its second largest city, with an enumerated 800,264 inhabitants . It is sometimes referred to as the commercial and industrial capital of Malawi as opposed to the political capital, L ...

, Lanarkshire, Scotland. Matthew, junior, attended the

Hamilton Academy Hamilton Academy was a school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The school was described as "one of the finest schools in Scotland" in the Cambridge University Press County Biography of 1910, and was featured in a 1950 Scottish Seconda ...

, "a famous scholarly school"The Independent
Sir Matthew Campbell – obituary 25 March 1968 by Sir

Tam Dalyell Sir Thomas Dalyell, 11th Baronet, , ( ; 9 August 1932 – 26 January 2017), known as Tam Dalyell, was a Scottish Labour Party politician who was a member of the House of Commons from 1962 to 2005. He represented West Lothian from 1962 to 1983 ...

. Retrieved 6 April 2011 in nearby Hamilton. From the Academy, Campbell matriculated at the

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

, graduating MA.

Career

Entering the civil service in 1928, Campbell was to hold posts in the

Inland Revenue The Inland Revenue was, until April 2005, a department of the British Government responsible for the collection of direct taxation, including income tax, national insurance contributions, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, corporation ta ...

and the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

(1935), before being appointed Principal, Department of Agriculture for Scotland (1938–43), Assistant Secretary (1943–53), Under-Secretary (1953-58), and latterly, the last Secretary of the Department of Agriculture for Scotland (1958-1962), becoming in 1962 the first Secretary of the new Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for Scotland, a position he held 'till his retirement in 1968. From 1951 to 1954 Campbell served as Secretary of the Taylor Committee, on which recommendation the Crofters' Commission for Scotland was established and Campbell was to be highly instrumental in taking forward the recommendations and work of the Crofters' Commission.

Marriage, awards and honours

Married in 1939 (Isabella Wilson), Campbell was invested Commander of the Bath in the

1959 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1959 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 30 December 1958 to celeb ...

and elected Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

on 6 March 1961, one of his Proposers being Sir

Thomas Murray Taylor Sir Thomas Murray Taylor (1897–1962) was a 20th-century Scottish advocate and university administrator. He was a devout Christian and active member of the United Free Church of Scotland. When this amalgamated with the Church of Scotland in ...

KC, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

and former Chair of the Taylor Committee, to which Campbell had been secretary. Matthew Campbell was knighted ( KBE) in the

1963 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1963 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The appointments were made "on the occ ...

. He died at

Christleton Christleton is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of Chester, in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The Shropshire Union Canal (originally Chester Canal) passes through ...

, in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

on 7 March 1998.
Royal Society of Edinburgh – list of Fellows. Sir Matthew Campbell, elected 6 March 1961. Retrieved 6 April 2011

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Matthew 1907 births 1998 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Hamilton Academy Scottish civil servants People from Blantyre, South Lanarkshire