838 Lord Colin Campbell

Constituency : Argyllshire  1878-85

Lord  Colin  took  over  from  his  older  brother the  Marquis  of  Lorne  who  was  appointed  Governor-General  of  Canada,

Colin  was  the  fifth  son  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll  and  a  cousin  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge. He  qualified  as  a  barrister

In  1882  Lord  Colin  spoke  against  making  the  licensing  laws  in  Scotland  too  strict. In  1883  he  spoke  in  favour  of  a  tougher  policy  which  might  mean  war  against  the  Boers. In  1884  he  spoke  against  immediate  acceptance  of  the  recommendations  of  a  Royal  Commission  on  the  crofting  issue.

Lord  Colin  had  a  fierce  parliamentary  tussle  with  Donald  McFarlane , an  ex-patriate  Scot  representing  the  Home  Rule  League, defending  the  Scottish  landlord  class  against  his  championing  of  the  Crofters. McFarlane  stood  in  Argyllshire  in  1885  as  the  Crofters  candidate  and  won  but  Colin  had  already  stood  down. Having  returned  from  Canada , Lorne  stood  unsuccessfully  in  Hampstead  apparently  believing  that  Colin's  tenure  had  poisoned  his chances  in  his  former  seat.

Lord  Colin's   dissolute  behaviour  offended  many  in  the  constituency. He  and  his  wife  Gertrude  separated  in  1884  amid  mutual  recriminations. They  had  married  despite  Colin's  already  suffering  from  syphilis; he  produced  a  doctor's  note  saying  that  sex  would  benefit  his  health . He  was  sometimes  violent  towards  his  nurses. Two  years  later  they  had  an  acrimonious  court  battle  where  each  the  accused  the  other  of  adultery  and  Gertrude  was  granted   a  separation  rather  than  a  divorce.

Lord  Colin  retreated  to  a   legal  career  in  Bombay.

Lord  Colin  died  in  Bombay  from  pneumonia  in  1895  aged  42. Gertrude  survived  until  1911.