William Aikman (Scottish, 1682–1731) Portrait of Daniel Campbell of Shawfield and Islay (1671/72-1753)

Literature

Lady Russell, Three Generations of Fascinating Women and other Sketches from Family History, Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1905, p. 175 (mentioned, and illustrated).

Note

Daniel Campbell, also known as "Great Dan" because of his impressive height and his considerable wealth, was a towering figure in early eighteenth centiry Scottish history. Starting as a leading merchant from Glasgow trading (sometimes illegally) with the English North American colonies and the Caribbean, Campbell later rose as one of the most prominent members of the last Scottish Parliamant, opposing the Jacobite cause. A close friend of his clan Chief the Duke of Argyll, he represented Inverary in the Scottish parliament from 1702 onwards, and was one of the several commissioners who negociated the terms of the Union treaty, before eventually sitting in the newly assembled Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1708. In 1711 Campbell built Shawfield mansion, which gave its name to the infamous Shawfield riots of 1725, following Campbell malt tax which infuriated the mob who, after taking possession of the city and preventing the officers from collecting the said tax, proceeded to Campbell's mansion and ransack its interior. Campbell eventually received £9,000 from the city as compensation for the damages caused by the riot. Soon afterwards he sold Shawfield and purchased the island of Islay, where he led a series of modern agricultural changes including the introduction of commercial distillation of single malt whisky, which forever changed the face, and fate, of the island.

Provenance

By family descent to Captain Robert Archibald James Montgomerie R.N. (1855 - 1908) of Edinburgh.

To his son Captain Robert Victor Campbell Montgomerie-Charrington, 1st Life Guards, of Newport, Rhode Island.

Thence by family descent.

Private Collection, Massachusetts.