John Campbell, 1st Earl of Loudoun (1598 – March 1662) was a Scottish politician and Covenanter.
As a young man Campbell travelled abroad. In 1620 married the heiress of the barony of Loudoun; in his wife's right, took his seat in the Parliament of Scotland. In 1622 his patent for an earldom stopped by Charles I because of his strenuous opposition to episcopacy. In 1633 he took a leading part in organising the Covenant, 1637–1638. He was a leader of the armed insurrection in Scotland in 1639 and an envoy from Scotland to Charles I in 1640. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London but was freed and joined the Scottish army of invasion in August 1640. He was sent again as an envoy to London and was made Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1641 to 1660. In 1641 he was also created Earl of Loudoun. During the years 1642–1647 he was frequently envoy to Charles I from the Parliament of Scotland. In 1650 he was present at the coronation of Charles II of Scotland and fought at Dunbar. He joined the Highland rising of 1653, but submitted to General Monck when it became obvious that further resistance was futile. He was excepted from Cromwell's Act of Grace in 1654 and heavily fined by Charles II in 1662.
Biography
Campbell, was the eldest son of Sir James Campbell of Lawers, and his wife, Jean, daughter of James, Lord Colville of Culross. He was born in 1598, and on his return from travelling abroad was knighted by James VI of Scotland.
In 1620 Campbell married Margaret, the eldest daughter of George Campbell, master of Loudoun. Upon the death of her grandfather, Hugh Campbell, 1st Baron Loudoun, in December 1622, she became baroness Loudoun, and her husband took his seat in the Parliament of Scotland in her right. He was created Earl of Loudoun, lord Farrinyeane and Mauchline by patent dated at Theobalds on 12 May 1633, but in consequence of his joining with the George Leslie, Earl of Rothes and others in parliament in their opposition to the court with regard to the act for empowering King Charles I to prescribe the apparel of churchmen, the patent was by a special order stopped at the chancery, and the title superseded. Soon after the passing of this act, the Scottish bishops resumed their episcopal costume, and in 1636 the Book of Canons Ecclesiastical and the order for using the new service-book were issued upon the sole authority of the King without consulting the general assembly. By his opposition to the policy of the court, Loudoun became a favourite of the adherents of the popular cause; and on 21 December 1637, at the meeting of the Privy Council at Dalkeith, in an eloquent speech, he detailed the grievances of the "Supplicants", and presented a petition on their behalf.
In 1638 the "tables" were formed and the covenant renewed. In these proceedings Loudoun took a very prominent part, and being elected elder for the Burgh of Irvine in the general assembly, which met at Glasgow in November 1638, he was appointed one of the assessors to the Moderator. In the following year, with the assistance of his friends, he seized the castles of Strathaven, Douglas, and Tantallon, and garrisoned them for the popular party. He marched with the Scottish army, under General Leslie, to the border, and acted as one of the Scottish commissioners at the short-lived Pacification of Berwick, which was concluded on 18 June 1639.
On 3 March 1640 Loudoun and the Charles Seton, Earl of Dunfermline, as commissioners from the estates, had an interview with Charles I at Whitehall, and remonstrated against the prorogation of the Parliament of Scotland by the king's commissioner (John, Earl of Traquair) before the business which had been brought before them had been disposed of. No answer was given to the remonstrance, but a few days after Loudoun was committed to the Tower of London upon acknowledging that a letter produced by the Earl of Traquair was in his own handwriting. This letter was addressed "Au Roy", and requested assistance from the French king. It was signed by the Earls of Montrose, Rothes, and Mar, Lords Loudoun, Montgomery, and Forester, and General Leslie, but was not dated. Loudoun protested without avail that it had been written before the pacification of Berwick, that it had never been sent, and that if he had committed any offence, he ought to be questioned for it in Scotland and not in England. According to Dr. Birch, a warrant was made out for Loudoun's execution without trial, but this has not been sufficiently corroborated, and after some months' confinement in the Tower he was liberated upon the intercession of James, Marquis of Hamilton, and returned to Scotland.