Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll

Who was Ian Campbell, 12th Duke of Argyll?

Ian Campbell, 12th and 5th Duke of Argyll, FRSA, styled Marquess of Lorne between 1949 and 1973, was a Scottish Peer and Chief of Clan Campbell. He was also the 5th Duke of Argyll in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Lord Lieutenant of Argyll and Bute.

Argyll was the son of Ian Campbell, 11th Duke of Argyll, and his second wife, Louise Hollingsworth Morris Clews. He was brought up in Portugal and France, educated at Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland and Glenalmond College in Scotland before going on to McGill University in Canada where he studied engineering.

In 1953, he was made a Fellow in the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, earning the rank of captain. Following his military service he worked in banking, then spent four years as a sales executive with Rank Xerox Export, regularly travelling behind the Iron Curtain. In 1968 he took over running the dukedom's Inverary Castle estate for his father.

On the death of his father in 1973, Argyll became a member of the Board of Directors of three distilleries and in 1977 became Chairman of Beinn Bhuidhe Holdings Ltd. in 1977. He was invested as a Knight of the Order of St. John in 1975.