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.