Richard Campbell was born in
Glasgow on 4 August 1840, the son of David Campbell, a wine and spirit merchant from a
Perthshire family, and Jane Vary, he was educated at Glasgow High School. He then studied Philosophy at
Glasgow University (graduating MA in 1861) and began a legal apprenticeship with Robert Lamond before moving to
Edinburgh to study Scots Law and Civil Law, graduating LLB. He then studied further at
Heidelberg University before being appointed to the Scottish Bar. He became an advocate in 1864. He rose to be
Sheriff of Dumfries and Galloway in 1890 and from 1896 was
Sheriff of Roxburgh, Berwick and Selkirk. In 1886, Richard unsuccessfully stood as the
Liberal Unionist Party's candidate to be
Member of Parliament for the
Glasgow College constituency, losing to
Sir Charles Cameron. Richard was an expert on Church Law and addressed the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on several occasions. He was Chairman of the Edinburgh Street Tramways Association and a Commissioner of the Northern Lighthouse Board. He was later elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1898, his proposers including Sir
Stair Agnew. Richard later died at his home, 37 Moray Place in
Edinburgh, at 10am on 10 November 1901, ten days after catching a cold whilst attending a wedding in
Peebles. Richard is buried in
Dean Cemetery in western Edinburgh. The grave lies facing the southern path of the northern Victorian extension. ==Family==