Campbell, Sir William

DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: R. J. Morgan and Robert Lochiel Fraser, “CAMPBELL, Sir WILLIAM (1758-1834),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/campbell_william_6E.html
DCB profile notes:
- Lawyer, office holder, jp, militia officer, politician, and judge; b. 2 Aug. 1758 in Caithness, Scotland, son of Alexander Campbell and Susannah Poole; m. 1 June 1785 Hannah Hadley in Guysborough, N.S., and they had two sons and four daughters – two of the latter married Robert Roberts Loring and William Robertson; d. 18 Jan. 1834 in York (Toronto), Upper Canada.
- By then the American colonies had rebelled, and against the advice of his friends Campbell decided to enter the army. He became a volunteer in the 76th Foot, a Highland regiment in which one of his relatives was a soldier, and accompanied it to North America. Captured at Yorktown, Va, in 1781, he remained a prisoner for some time.
- Midway through 1784 Campbell appeared in Nova Scotia with a group of refugees arriving at Chedabucto Bay to settle. He received a water lot in the new town of Guysborough and other acreage, and married the daughter of a pre-loyalist inhabitant. Local tradition tells that when Campbell became discouraged by his prospects his neighbour Thomas Cutler suggested that he study law with him.
- Campbell seems to have begun practising as an attorney around 1785. A remote fishing village offered little business, and he had to keep a small shop in order to make ends meet. His training and occupation set him apart from his neighbours, and undoubtedly helped him acquire several township offices such as assessor, surveyor, and overseer of the poor. By the early 1790s he had also obtained the socially significant appointments of justice of the peace and captain of militia.
- In 1799 Campbell was acclaimed to the House of Assembly as one of the two representatives for Sydney County. His career in Nova Scotia practically never progressed beyond the boundaries of his county. His long career as a judge in Upper Canada has received only incidental mention.
- In Upper Canada his career was almost exclusively judicial, and his historical stature suffers by comparison with his predecessor as chief justice, Powell, and his successor, Robinson. He did make one significant contribution to Canadian legal history, in 1822 at the trial in Sandwich of Shawanakiskie. His questioning of an Indian’s supposed immunity from prosecution for crimes committed by one Indian against another was upheld by imperial authorities. As a result, although the prisoner had escaped, the legality of his conviction had been confirmed and Indians were brought fully within the compass of the criminal law.
United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=14455
Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/243481795/william-campbell