Capt. Neil Campbell , of Duntroon, Kilmartin, Argylls. He went bankrupt in 1785. "A Highland Laird Nothing demonstrates more clearly Archibald Campbell's commitment to settling down in Scotland than the use of the fortune he had amassed in India to set himself up as a Highland Laird (large landowner) in his native Argyllshire. Archibald Campbell's six years of service in India had been lucrative and his younger brother, Duncan, confirmed that at the end of his brother's first posting to India, he had "acquired additional marks of distinction from his Sovereign, and an independent fortune, with an unblemished reputation".15 It was certainly a good time for Archibald Campbell to set himself up as a Laird, because economic conditions made it a buyer's market for land in Highland areas such as mid-Argyll. The burden of inherited debts, poor investments, and low estate income had put tremendous pressure on many of the local Lairds, who were to lose their estates as a result. Lairds such as Sir James Campbell of Auchenbreck, for example, had his estate sequestrated in 1762, while Archibald Campbell of Danna was forced to sell his estate in 1773 to pay the family's debts. The estates of Campbell of Ashfield, and of the MacNeills of Arichonan, were also in serious trouble by 1775, and with others such as the estate of Archibald Campbell's cousin, Captain Neil Campbell of Duntroon and Oib, it was only a matter of time, with the latter going bankrupt in 1785.16 Campbell of Duntroon, in a vain attempt to save the family's estate or "the Old Bark" as he described it17, subsequently took up a post with the Madras Presidency at the express invitation of Archibald Campbell, who was appointed governor of Madras in 1785. Duntroon was one of the lucky few able to secure such an appointment, because Archibald Campbell was inundated with applications from indigent kinsmen who wished to accompany him to India. This was referred to light-heartedly in a letter to Campbell of Inverneill from his friend Henry Dundas, who was a government minister and influential member of the Board of Control which had been set up in 1784 to oversee the management of the East India Company: "...the County of Argyll will be depopulated by the emigration of Campbells to be provided for by you". The Directors of the East India Company refused to allow Archibald Campbell more staff than was absolutely necessary, and many applications were to prove unsuccessful.18 It would appear, however, that Archibald Campbell succeeded in appointing enough of his kinsmen to senior posts, including the appointment of his nephew James Campbell (son of his elder brother, Sir James Campbell) as aide-de-camp, to merit his administration passing into the history of the East India Company as the "Scottish Invasion"." In 1792 the Duntroon estate was bought by the Malcolms, of Polltalloch.
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