Neil Campbell (1678 - 1761) was a Scottish Minister, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland at the start of the Original Secession and Principal of Glasgow University during a flourishing period of the Scottish Enlightenment.
Life
Neil Campbell's origins are obscure, though it is clear he was well connected to the Patronage networks of the Argyle Interest, which was to triumph in the so-called Glorious Revolution.
Hew Scott's "Fasti Ecclesiae..." (which was based on reading original parish records) says he was the son of Major John Campbell of the Clenary family, but Neil was sent to his uncle, Rev Patrick Campbell of Glenaray and his wife Jean McIver, to raise and educate him in the church.
Some genealogy websites, and others who may have access to private family papers, suggest he was the, possibly illegitimate, son of a John Campbell (and possibly a cadet of the Argyle family).
Neil matriculated at Glasgow University on 1 January 1697 to study Divinity. There is no record of him graduating, a not uncommon occurrence. He was licensed to preach as a Church of Scotland minister by the Presbytery of Argyll in June 1701.
Minister
He was ordained Minister of Kilmallie in Lochaber on 9 September 1702. Kilmallie was the large parish, in geographical extent, and its Highland population generally held Jacobite sympathies, implying a lean towards the Catholic cause.
Seven years later, he transferred to Rosneath, on the Firth of Clyde just opposite the traditional Campbell heartlands. He received the call on 13 June 1709 and admitted on 15 July. He served there for another seven years.
Meanwhile, the Church Patronage (Scotland) Act 1711 had come into force, which meant the Crown, and other Patrons, could present Ministers to vacancies in their churches. Neil Campbell was presented to the Kirk at Renfrew by George I - really Argyle - on 15 November 1715. He was called on 26 April, and subsequently translated and admitted on 18 July 1716. He served there until 1728, when through the influence of his Patrons, the Crown appointed him Principal of Glasgow University.
Principal
The Principal of Glasgow University was a key appointment in the Patronage networks available to the Crown. He was an important player in the Presbytery of Glasgow which was in turn a major influence on the Town Council, and in Parliamentary elections. There were shifting (and interlocking) allegiances to Montrose, Hamilton and Argyle networks. Neil Campbell was appointed in 1727 at the instigation of the Lord Justice General, Lord Islay and his brother, the Duke of Argyle, largely as a safe pair of hands in a religiously and politically disputed terrain.
The teaching at Glasgow had been reformed by his predecessor, Principal Stirling, and a number of important appointments were made during Campbell's tenure, notably Adam Smith and William Cullen - who turned the Glasgow medical school into a rival to Edinburgh's, which was made possible by major increases in finance, again from Government and other sources of patronage. Another appointment was the scientist and educator John Anderson, whose Anderson's Institution developed into Strathclyde University. Campbell might not be able to take credit for the appointments or for the finance, as he was regarded as a somewhat weak leader, but Glasgow was even more flourishing at the end of his regime than it was at the beginning. Smith recalled his time there as by far the most useful and therefore as by far the happiest and most honourable period of my life.
Campbell helped negotiate a return to Glasgow of copies of important archives of the pre-Reformation Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow, from the Scots College in Paris.
A lot of Campbell's time was taken up in contending with religious divisions among the staff (reflected in student concerns) and in the Glasgow Presbytery. He unsuccessfully tried to defend his colleague, the Professor of Divinity John Simson, from charges of heresy brought by the Presbytery, and ended up having to take over all his classes, without any increase in pay (though some compensation was given much later). Campbell?s own religious philosophy seems to have been hyper-Calvinist, which might explain his quarrels with the philosopher Francis Hutcheson and his opposition to David Hume getting a professorship at Glasgow.
He was in post during challenging times, including the occupation of Glasgow by the Young Pretender. He loyally supported the Government. It is no surprise that he seems to have had a stroke in 1753. He did not resign his post, but lived on, disabled, until his death on 22 June 1761.