Alexander Campbell (25 May 1812 – 8 November 1891) was a Scottish-born Australian politician.

Early life

He was born in Relugas near

Forres Forres (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the County of Moray, Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin, Moray, Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several ...

, Scotland, to farmer Donald Campbell and Janet Ralph. A solicitor, he migrated to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in 1838 and worked for a merchant firm until beginning his own business in 1840; he subsequently entered a partnership in 1842 as merchants and commercial agents. On 1 July 1842 he married Maria Martin, with whom he had four children; a second marriage on 6 October 1857 to Sarah Robertson Murray produced a further four children, while and third on 8 January 1873 to Harriet Hunt was childless.

Political career

Campbell unsuccessfully stood as a candidate at the by-election for the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

seat of Sydney Hamlets in February 1855. He did not contest the first election for the Legislative Assembly, but stood for

Shoalhaven The City of Shoalhaven is a local government area in the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The area is about south of Sydney. The Princes Highway passes through the area, and the South Coast railway line traverses the norther ...

at the 1859 election, finishing well back in 3rd. He was finally successful at the 1860 Williams by-election. He served in the assembly for less than 9 months before parliament was dissolved and he did not contest the general election later that year. In 1864 he was appointed to the

. From 1882 to 1883 he was

Postmaster-General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government officia ...

in the third Parkes ministry. He resigned from the Council in 1890 and died at

Woollahra Woollahra ( ) is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Woollahra is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local go ...

on .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Alexander 1812 births 1891 deaths Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 19th-century Australian politicians Postmasters-general of New South Wales