John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Field Marshal John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll and 1st Duke of Greenwich KG (October 10, 1678 - October 4, 1743) was a Scottish soldier and nobleman. His titles were extremely high in the precedence of the Scottish peerage.

Born in Petersham, Surrey, England to Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll and Elizabeth Tollemache, daughter of Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Bt, he succeeded his father as Duke of Argyll and Chief of Clan Campbell in 1703. In 1705, for his support of the Act of Union, he was created Baron Chatham and Earl of Greenwich. He fought during the War of the Spanish Succession under the British Army's overall commander, the Duke of Marlborough, and he fought at the battles of Oudenarde and Malplaquet.

In 1710 he was made a Knight of the Garter, and in 1711 he was appointed commander-in-chief of British forces in Spain by the Tory ministry of Lord Oxford and Lord Bolingbroke and was Governor of Minorca from 1712 to 1716. By 1713, however, Argyll had become critical of the ministry, and he joined the Whig opposition in making speeches against the government in the House of Lords. In July 1714, in Queen Anne's last illness, the unexpected presence of Argyll and the Duke of Somerset at the Privy Council prevented Bolingbroke from taking full power on the fall of Oxford, and thus perhaps secured the Hanoverian succession.

In "the Fifteen", Argyll led the government army at Sheriffmuir and defeated the Jacobites led by the Earl of Mar. In 1719 he was rewarded by being given the Dukedom of Greenwich. He was Master General of the Ordnance from 1725-1740 and was promoted to Field Marshal in 1736. He is listed as a founding Governor of the Foundling Hospital on that charity's Royal Charter, granted by the King in 1739. In 1742, a year before his death, he was given the position of Commander in Chief of the British Army.

He received the colonelcy of various regiments, including the 1st (His Majesty's Own) Troop ("The Oxford Blues") and 4th (Scots) Troop of the Horse Guards Regiment (now part of the Household Cavalry Regiment),and the 3rd (The Queen's) Dragoon Guards (now part of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards). He was also the colonel of the 1st Regiment ("Lorne's Foot"), 2nd Regiment ("Lorne's Foot"), and Argyll's Foot.

He is buried in Westminster abbey in an elaborate tomb designed by the French sculptor, Louis François Roubiliac.

Political offices
Preceded by
The Duke of Kent
Lord Steward
1718–1725
Succeeded by
The Duke of Dorset
Military Offices
Preceded by
The Earl Cadogan
Master-General of the Ordnance
1725–1740
Succeeded by
The Duke of Montagu
Preceded by
The Duke of Montagu
Master-General of the Ordnance
1742
Succeeded by
The Duke of Montagu
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Archibald Campbell
Duke of Argyll
1703–1743
Succeeded by
Archibald Campbell
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by
(new creation)
Duke of Greenwich
1719–1743
Succeeded by
(extinct)
Peerage of England
Preceded by
(new creation)
Earl of Greenwich
1705–1743
Succeeded by
(extinct)
Baron Chatham
1705–1743
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.