Captain Robert Campbell


(5th Laird of Glen Lyon)

1630 - 1696

Commander at the Massacre of Glen Coe. Campbell succeeded his father as Laird of Glen Lyon and was a cousin of John Campbell, the 1st Earl of Breadalbane (1635 - 1717). He inherited Meggernie Castle and was responsible for extending it. This, together with a philandering lifestyle, left him with substantial debts. Campbell set about selling off sections of his estate in an attempt to repay these, but failed and the last of his property was destroyed by retreating Jacobite MacIains of Glen Coe (allies of the MacDonalds) following the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689. In need of funds, he took a commission in the Earl of Argyll's Regiment of Foot and thus found himself in command at Glen Coe in 1692. Campbell clearly had no love for the MacDonalds, although this hardly forgave his duplicitous actions. After the massacre his regiment was ordered to Flanders. He never returned to Scotland and died in Bruges.


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