Archibald Campbell
Campbell, first Lord Blythswood, was the son of Archibald Campbell of
Blythswood, seventeenth Laird of Mains, and was born 1835 February 22.
Lord Blythswood’s father exchanged the name of Douglas for Campbell on
succeeding to the estate of his cousin, Major Campbell, twelfth Laird of Blythswood, and at one time M.P. for Glasgow. The estate comprised a
great portion of the land on which the western part of the city of
Glasgow is built. At the age of twenty Lord Blythswood joined the Scots
Guards, and immediately went with the regiment to the Crimea. After
three months’ service he was severely wounded in the trenches before
Sebastopol: he received the Crimean medal with clasp and the Turkish
medal. He retired from the army with the rank of lieutenant-colonel on
the death of his father in 1868. In 1864 he married the elder sister of
the present Lord Carrington. He was created Baronet in 1880, was Lord
Lieutenant of the county of Renfrew, and Aide-de-camp to the late Queen
Victoria; he was a keen politician, and sat in Parliament as a
Conservative for West Renfrewshire from 1883 until 1892, when he was
raised to the peerage. On many occasions he entertained members of the
Royal Family when they visited Glasgow, and in November 1907 the freedom
of the city of Glasgow was conferred upon him, with special recognition
of the splendid hospitality dispensed at Blythswood House, on the north
bank of the Clyde.
Although he had many interests, much of his time was devoted to physical
science: he established a laboratory and workshop at Blythswood House,
and fitted them with the best instruments that could be procured. In the
Glasgow Exhibition of 1888 he exhibited the wheel-work for an
astronomical driving-clock, cut with his own hands; many excellent
gratings were made with a ruling engine of his own device, the result of
twenty-five years, modification and improvement. In this engine the
diamond point is brought very gradually into contact with the surface to
be ruled, so that the risk of disaster from its breaking is entirely
avoided. When Rontgen announced the discovery of the X-rays, Lord
Blythewood had already obtained photographic effects through opaque
objects, and had cpme very near to making the discovery himself. His
principal researches were in spectrum photography, the Zeeman effect,
and in radio-activity. During the last few years of his life he was much
interested in the problem of flight, and in conjunction with Mr. Scoble
he invented an engine worked by compressed air, and which developed
one-half of a horse-power, although weighing only two pounds.
He had for some time been suffering from heart weakness, and died on
July 8 at his seat of Blythswood.
Lord Blythswood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1907, and a
Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society on 1875 April 9.
CAMPBELL, Sir ARCHIBALD
CAMPBELL, first Baron Blythswood (1835–1908), amateur of science, born
at Florence on 22 Feb. 1835, was eldest of nine children of Archibald
Douglas (1809–1868), 17th laird of Mains, Dumbartonshire, who assumed
the name of Campbell in 1838 on succeeding his cousin, Archibald
Campbell, as 12th laird of Blythswood. His father claimed descent from
Sir Duncan Campbell (created Lord Campbell in 1445), ancestor of the
dukes of Argyll [see Campbell, Colin, d. 1493], and from William de
Douglas (fl. 1174), ancestor of the earls of Douglas, Hamilton and
Morton. His mother was Caroline Agnes, daughter of Mungo Dick of
Pitkerrow, co. Fife. After private education for the army, he joined in
1854 the 79th highlanders; next year he was transferred to the Scots
guards, and served in the Crimea (where he was severely wounded in the
trenches before Sevastopol), retiring from the army in 1868. Thenceforth
his interests lay in politics, the auxiliary forces, and in science. A
wealthy landowner and a strong conservative, he was active in organising
the party in Scotland and sat in the House of Commons for Renfrewshire
1873–4, and for West Renfrewshire 1885–92. On 4 May 1880 he was made a
baronet and on 24 Aug. 1892 was raised to the peerage as Baron
Blythswood. He commanded the 4th battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland
highlanders from 1874 to 1904, and was aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria
and King Edward VII from 1894. At Blythswood House, Renfrewshire, he
entertained King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (when Prince and
Princess of Wales) in 1870 and Queen Victoria in 1888.
Lord Blythswood, who enjoyed the intimate friendship of Lord Kelvin and
other notable men of science, rendered important services to
astronomical and physical science. He maintained at Blythswood House a
splendidly equipped laboratory, the resources of which he placed freely
at the disposal of scientific friends. He obtained photographic action
through various opaque substances before Rontgen announced his results
in 1895, and came near, according to Prof. Andrew Gray, F.R.S., to the
discovery of the X-rays. Much of his time and labour was devoted to the
construction of instruments of precision; foremost amongst these is his
great dividing engine for ruling diffraction gratings. After his death
Lady Blythswood placed this instrument and other apparatus connected
therewith on loan at the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington, to
be kept together and known as the 'Blythswood Collection.' At the end of
his life Blythswood was among the first to make experiments in the
mechanics of aerial propulsion (see Engineering, 25 Dec. 1908).
Blythswood, who was made hon. LL.D. of Glasgow in April 1907 and was
elected F.R.S. on 2 May 1907, died at Blythswood House on 8 July 1908.
He married on 7 July 1864 Augusta Clementina Carrington, daughter of
Robert John, second baron Carrington, but left no issue. The peerage
passed by special remainder to his brother, the Rev. Sholto Douglas
Campbell-Douglas. A portrait of Blythswood by Sir Hubert von Herkomer
was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887. A replica is in the
Conservative Club, Glasgow. |