Ilay Campbell

Who was Ilay Campbell?

Sir Ilay Campbell, Lord Succoth FRSE was a Scottish advocate, judge and politician.

An advocate from 1757, he was engaged in the Douglas peerage case from 1764 to 1769. He was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland in 1783 and Lord Advocate in 1784. He became Member of Parliament for Glasgow Burghs in the same year. He was Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General from 1789 to 1808, where he sat as Lord Succoth.

On his resignation in 1808, he was created a baronet, and resided at Garscube, about four miles from Glasgow on the banks of the river Kelvin. There he engaged in the management of his estate, and the performance of his duties as a country gentleman. Lord Cockburn says of him that "he lived like a patriarch in a house overflowing with company, beloved by troops of relations, and courted for his character and hospitality by many friends." He was Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1799, and died in 1823 aged eighty-nine years.

Sir Ilay was succeeded by his son Archibald, also a Senator of the College of Justice under the title of Lord Succoth, who died in 1846.