Lieutenant-Colonel Archibald Campbell, 1st Baron Blythswood, (22 February 1835 – 8 July 1908) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

soldier,

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

politician, scientist and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.

Life

Born Archibald Campbell Douglas (he dropped Douglas from his name in 1838) in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, he was the son of Archibald Campbell, 17th Laird of Mains, until 1838 known as Archibald Douglas. Campbell joined the 79th Highlanders at the age of 16 and fought in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

in 1855, where he was severely wounded. He transferred to the

Scots Fusilier Guards Scots may refer to: People and cultures * Scots language * Scottish people * Scoti, a Latin name for the Gaels Other uses * SCOTS, abbreviation for Royal Regiment of Scotland * Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS), a linguistic resource * ...

and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. On 7 July 1864, he married Augusta Clementina Carrington, a daughter of Robert Carrington, 2nd Baron Carrington, at Whitehall Chapel, London. He retired from the army in 1868 on the death of his father. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

from 1873 to 1874, and for West Renfrewshire from 1885 to 1892. He was also Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire from 1904 to 1908. On 4 May 1880, he was created a baronet, of Blythswood and was an aide-de-camp to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

. In 1888 he was awarded an honorary

doctorate of Law A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

from the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

and made a

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of the City of Glasgow. He was conferred with Honorary Membership of the

Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland The Institution of Engineers in Scotland (IES) is a multi-disciplinary professional body and learned society, founded in Scotland, for professional engineers in all disciplines and for those associated with or taking an interest in their work. I ...

in 1891. On 24 August 1892, he was created

Baron Blythswood Baron Blythswood, of Blythswood House, Blythswood in the Renfrewshire, County of Renfrew, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 24 August 1892 for Archibald Campbell, 1st Baron Blythswood, Sir Archibald Campbell, 1s ...

, with a special remainder to his five younger brothers. He was a notable scientist and took his wife to Thebes to observe the

Transit of Venus A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as ...

in 1874, taking with him a small transit instrument, a 6-inch telescope and a 12-inch telescope, recording the time of first contact, and also observed a white halo, proving an

atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosph ...

around Venus. From 1892 to 1905 the Blythswood Laboratory at his family seat was used to experiment into many areas at the borders of physics, including the use of

cathode rays Cathode rays are streams of electrons observed in vacuum tube, discharge tubes. If an evacuated glass tube is equipped with two electrodes and a voltage is applied, glass behind the positive electrode is observed to glow, due to electrons emitte ...

X-rays An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

and

radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

. He designed a speed indicator, which was fitted to ships of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, and carried out studies into the efficiency of aerial propellers some years before the

Wright Brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...

' first powered flight in 1903. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in May, 1907 and died possessed of the family seat in Renfrewshire and Halliford Manor in

Shepperton Shepperton is a village in the Borough of Spelthorne, Spelthorne district, in north Surrey, England, around south west of central London. The settlement is on the north bank of the River Thames, between the towns of Chertsey and Sunbury-on-Tha ...

. He was for many years linked to the 3rd (The Blythswood) Volunteer Battalion of the

Highland Light Infantry The Highland Light Infantry (HLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881. It took part in the First World War, First and World War II, Second World Wars, until it was amalgamated with the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1959 t ...

, where he was commanding Colonel, and from 28 May 1902 appointed Honorary Colonel. He died at age 73 at his home

Blythswood House Blythswood House was a 100-room neoclassical mansion at Renfrew, Scotland, built for the Douglas-Campbell family from the considerable incomes arising from their ownership of the Lands of Blythswood in Glasgow, including Blythswood Hill, develop ...

, without issue and was buried on 11 July 1908 at

Inchinnan Inchinnan (; ) is a small village in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The village is located on the main A8 road between Renfrew and Greenock, just south east of the town of Erskine. History The name of Inchinnan village is derived from the Gaelic ...

. His baronetcy became extinct but his barony passed to his brother, Rev. Sholto Campbell, succeeded by younger brothers still, Barrington and Archibald.''Glasgow's Blythswood'' by Graeme Smith, published in 2021 www.blythswoodsmith.co.uk

References

External links

*
Who's Who in Glasgow 1909
Glasgow Digital Library, hosted by University of Strathclyde {{DEFAULTSORT:Blythswood, Archibald Campbell, 1st Baron 1835 births 1908 deaths Nobility from Renfrewshire Military personnel from Renfrewshire 1 19th-century Scottish people Military personnel from Glasgow British Army personnel of the Crimean War Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Lord-lieutenants of Renfrewshire Fellows of the Royal Society Scottish soldiers Politics of Renfrewshire Scots Guards officers Scottish expatriates in Italy Scottish physicists Scottish inventors Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912) UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs who were granted peerages Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria

Life

See also

References

External links