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CAMPBELL OF LOUDOUN.
War Cry: "Cruachan" (A mountain near Loch Awe).
Badge:- Roid (Wild Myrtle); or Garbhag an t sleibhe (Fir Club Moss).
'HE first of the present honse of Loudoun was Sir Duncan Campbell, grandson of Sir
Colin Campbell, ancestor of the Duke of Argyll. He married Susanna, daughter
and heiress of Sir Reginald Crawford of Loudoun, High-Sheriff of Ayr, who fell in
battle for his country in 1303, and was the grand-nephew of the mother of the great
Sir William Wallace. By a charter, granted by Robert I. in 1381, Loudoun was
converted into a free barony, with the lands of Stevenston (Robertson's Index).
Sir Duncan was the son of Sir Donald Campbell, who, from the same King
Robert, obtained a charter of the Red Castle, and was second son of Cailean-Mhor
(Sir Colin) of the honse of Lochow. By the heiress of Loudoun, he had a son Sir
Andrew Campbell, who was taken prisoner with David II., at the battle of Durham,
and was kept as such, in England, till 1357.
Sir Hugh of Loudoun, his son, was one of those appointed to meet King James
I. at Durban), in 1423 ; and his grandson, Sir George, became a hostage for the King's ransom, and
accompanied the unhappy Princess Margaret to France, in 1436, when she became the wife of the
future Louis XI.
Two Sir George Campbells of Loudoun succeeded, and the first of these was ancestor of the
Campbells of Killoch.
Sir Matthew Campbell, seventeenth of the house of Loudoun (traced in the ancient line), was a
faithful subject to Queen Mary, and fought for her at Langside. His second son, Matthew, settled
in Livonia, and became ancestor of the famous Baron Loudoun, commander of the Imperial armies
in the close of the last century.
Sir Hugh Campbell of Loudoun like all his predecessors, was High-Sheriff of Ayr, and possessed
a vast estate, as charters, dated between 1580 and 1600, show. In 1601, he was created Lord Campbell
of Loudoun by James VI. His renunciation to flew, Earl of "
Eglinton, f the gift of the earl's
marriage, 14th August 1604," appears in the Eglinton Memorials, vol. ii. He married Margaret.
Gordon of the house of Lochinvar. His son, John, Master of Loudoun, died before him, leaving a
daughter, Margaret, who succeeded to all the honours of Loudoun, in 1622, and married her namesake,
Sir Sohn Campbell of La wers, a descendant of the first Baron of Glenorchy, and who was so
esteemed by Charles I. that, in 1633, he created him Lord Farrinyeane and Mauchline, and Earl of
Loudoun. and, eight yean after, he was Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. His grandson, James
Campbell, Colonel of the Scots Greys, fell, a major-general, at the battle of Fontenoy, in 1745.
Hugh, third Earl of Loudoun, elder brother of the General, joined King William at the Revolution,
and was a Commissioner for the Union in 1707. He died in 1731.
John, fourth Earl, his son, attained the highest military honours. He became Colonel of the
80th foot, Governor of Virginia and of Edinburgh Castle. In 1745 he was active in the Government
service, and in that year raised a regiment of Highlanders, consisting of twelve companies, which
covered itself with distinction in the war of Flanders, fighting against Saze and Lowendhal, but
was disbanded at Perth in 1748. The Earl was appointed Commander of the forces in America in
1756 ; two years subsequent, he was Commander in Portugal, and, in 1770, was appointed Colonel
of the Scot* Foot Guards. He died a general in 1782, and unmarried.
The title thus reverted to his cousin, Major-General James Mure-Campbell, son of the General
named above who fell at Fontenoy, who married Flora, eldest daughter of MacLeod of Rasay, by
whom he had one child, Flora Mure-Campbell, who became Countess of Londoun, and married, in
1804, General, the Earl of Moira, Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, afterwards Governor-General of
India, and who, in 1816, was created Marquis of Hastings. This lady was the mother of the
lamented Lady Flora Hastings, a poetess of considerable merit, who was born at Edinburgh in 1806,
and whose somewhat inhumane treatment at Court, in 1839, the year of her death, caused some
excitement. The Countess Flora was succeeded by her son George, seventh Earl of Loudoun and
second Marquis of Hastings, who died 1844. His two sons, the third and fourth marquises, who
were also Earls of Loudoun, died in 1851 and 1868 respectively, both without issue, and the Earldom
of Loudoun then went to their sister, Edith Maud, who married a Mr Clifton, afterwards Lord
Donington, with whom she assumed the name and arms of Abney Hastings.
The Countess died in 1874, and was succeeded by her son Charles, eleventh Earl.