Colin McIver Campbell (born 31 August 1938) is a Scottish politician and military historian. He was a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP)

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for West of Scotland region from 1999 to 2003. Campbell is a former history teacher and secondary school headmaster.

Early life

Campbell was born on 31 August 1938 in Paisley, Scotland. Campbell was educated at

Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of James VI of Scotland, King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. T ...

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

, and

Jordanhill College of Education Jordanhill College of Education was a higher education college in Jordanhill, Glasgow, Scotland. It opened as a teacher training college in 1921. The college merged with the University of Strathclyde in 1993, becoming its Faculty of Educati ...

Career in education

Campbell worked in education from 1961 until 1989, teaching history at

Hillhead High School Hillhead High School is a day school in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oakfield Avenue, neighbouring the University of Glasgow. Admissions It is one of the largest schools in Glasgow. History Grammar school Until 1972 it was a co-educational selectiv ...

in Glasgow, at

Greenock Academy The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland. It was founded in 1855 and was originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only fo ...

, and becoming the first Deputy Head of Merksworth High School in Paisley. He spent twelve years as Head Teacher of Westwood Secondary, Easterhouse. He has lived in

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan (; ) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is almost contiguous with Johnstone, about 5 miles or 8 km west of the centre of Paisley. The village's name means "cell (chape ...

, West Renfrewshire since 1963.

Political career

He joined the SNP in 1976. He was a member of the Party's National Executive and National Council and the Local Government Committee. He stood unsuccessfully as a SNP candidate in elections for the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

on three occasions: for Renfrew West and Inverclyde in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

and

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, then for West Renfrewshire in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. He twice stood for election to the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

in Strathclyde West, losing to Labour's Hugh McMahon in both

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. In the 1999 Scottish election, he stood as a constituency candidate in West Renfrewshire, where he finished second behind Labour's Trish Godman. He was elected by the regional list. In Holyrood, he was defence spokesman for the SNP. He did not stand for election in 2003.

Personal life

He is married and has 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.

Works

Campbell has an interest in military history. * Co-author of ''Can't Shoot a Man With a Cold, Lt E A Mackintosh MC 1893-1917, Poet of the Highland Division'': Colin Campbell & Rosalind Green, Argyll Publishing 2004. * Author of ''Engine of Destruction. The 51st (Highland) Division in the Great War'' Argyll Publishing 2013

References

External links

* 1938 births Living people People educated at Paisley Grammar School Scottish schoolteachers Politicians from Paisley, Renfrewshire Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 1999–2003 Scottish National Party parliamentary candidates {{MSP-stub