3rd Duke of Argyll
Born 1682 Died 1761
Archibald Campbell was born at Ham House in Surrey, in June 1682. On his father being created a duke, he joined the army, and served for a short time under the Duke of Marlborough. In 1705 he was appointed treasurer of Scotland, and in the following year was one of the commissioners for treating of the Union; on the consummation of which, having been raised to the peerage of Scotland as Earl of Islay, he was chosen one of the sixteen peers for Scotland in the first parliament of Great Britain. In 1711 he was called to the privy council, and commanded the royal army at the battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715. He was appointed keeper of the privy seal in 1721, and was afterwards entrusted with the principal management of Scottish affairs to an extent which caused him to be called 'king of Scotland'. In 1733 he was made keeper of the great seal, an office which he held till his death. He succeeded to the dukedom in 1743.
Both as Earl of Islay and as Duke of Argyll he was prominently connected (with Duncan Forbes of Culloden) with the movement for consolidating Scottish loyalty by the formation of locally recruited highland regiments. The duke was eminent not only for his political abilities, but also for his literary accomplishments, and he collected one of the most valuable private libraries in Great Britain. He died suddenly on the 15th of April 1761. He was married but had no legitimate issue, and his English property was left to a Mrs Williams, by whom he had a son, William Campbell.
Extracted from the entry for EARLS AND DUKES OF ARGYLL OF in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, the text of which lies within the public domain.