James Campbell formerly (McOran)

In the year 1660 a young Campbell of Melfort in the

district south of Oban killed a young McColl in a fray at a clan gathering. The act was probably accidental, since the father of McColl seems to have forgiven

it, but the outcry of the McColl family was so great that

it was thought necessary for the young Campbell to leave

the country. He went by night mounted on a pony with

provisions for two or three days, and, after some wander-

ing, put himself under the protection of the Earl of Menteith.

When with the Earl he met Miss Nancy Haldane, a niece of

Haldane of Lanrick, and made a runaway marriage with

her. The Earl forgave him and established the young

couple on the farm of Inchanoch in Menteith, which they

and their descendants held rent free until it passed into the

hands of Graham of Gartmore in 1779.

The outlaw had changed his name to McOran on leaving

Melfort, and his descendants continued to call themselves

McOran while they were in Menteith, though they resumed

the name of Campbell when they went elsewhere. There

was a local saying that ' there was never a Campbell in

Menteith nor a McOran out of it.' When Graham of

Gartmore acquired the property he left James McOran,

great-grandson of the original Campbell of Melfort, who

was then in possession, undisturbed, and gave him a lease

of the farm from 1779 to 1800, which was afterwards

renewed to 1819. In 1803, however, he decided to sell it

1836-1868. to Mr Graham-Shepherd of Rednock, who wished to add

to it his park, and James McOran was given 525 for the

unexpired portion of his lease and asked to take himself

elsewhere.

He left reluctantly, as well he might, having a wife and

nine children and little or nothing beyond this compensation

for their support. The eldest son John, aged seventeen,

who had already served a year in the city as apprentice

to a grocer, appears to have pointed to Glasgow and the

grocery business as the likeliest way of earning a living.

Accordingly in 1804 James McOran, who now changed his

name back to Campbell, opened a grocer's shop in Gallow-

gate, and the following year moved to Saltmarket, where

grocery was expanded into ' general provisions.' Hard

times followed, and after two years the shop was given up

and the father and mother l left Glasgow and went to live

at Head of Green, whence they moved eventually to Park-

head. The eldest son John, 2 meanwhile, had migrated to

America and for a few months there was talk of the whole

family following, but this was ended by the news that he

had married an American girl almost immediately on

landing and was now absorbed in his own fortunes. By

this time the other sons, James, William, and Alexander,

had obtained some sort of schooling and were apprenticed

to various firms in Glasgow, James going to his father's

old friends, McLachlan and McKeand, who were in busi-

ness as Warehousemen.

THE LIFE OF THE RIGHT HON. SIR HENRY CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN, G.C.B.

BY J. A SPENDER

HODDER AND STOUGHTON LIMITED LONDON

T. and A. CONSTABLE LTD., Printers, Edinburgh

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol I. page 262