Archibald Campbell (1682-1761), 1st Earl of Ilay, 3rd Duke of Argyll, was a politician and second son of Archibald Campbell, 10th Earl and 1st Duke of Argyll (d. 1703) and born in Ham House, Surrey. He was educated at Eton College, the University of Glasgow, and Utrecht University. He joined the army in 1703 and served for a short time under the Duke of Marlborough. In 1705, he was appointed Lord High Treasurer of Scotland by Queen Anne and soon rose to critical political importance in both England and Scotland. He was appointed Lord Justice-General Scotland in 1711, Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1721 and Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland in 1733. He was also one of the founders of the Royal Bank of Scotland, acting as its first governor.

He established his own estate at Whitton Park in Middlesex, called Whitton Place, in the 1720s, building his own principal residence there to designs attributed to Roger Morris. He succeeded to the dukedom in 1743 following the death of his brother. He was married to Anne Whitfield but had no legitimate male heirs and left the Whitton estate to his mistress, Ann Williams. On his death, his titles passed on to his cousin, John Campbell (c.1693-1770), 4th Duke of Argyll, in 1761.

The Adam office made an elevation and plan for a gothic tower, along with an elevation of a chimneypiece for the Duke of Argyll. These are survey drawings for an existing building on the Duke of Argyll’s estate at Whitton Place. The gothic tower has been attributed to James Gibbs (1682-1754) and/or Roger Morris (1695-1749) and is included in John Adam’s sketchbook of 1748 which is held in the RIBA collection. John Adam visited the Duke of Argyll in 1748 at his Whitton estate to consult with him and the architect Roger Morris. The gothic tower is also depicted in an engraving by William Wollet from 1757 and several historic maps from the mid-eighteenth century which show the irregular-shaped building on the estate. The estate was sold after Argyll’s death in 1761 and was eventually purchased by the architect Sir William Chambers in 1781.

John Adam’s rough sketch of the tower is very similar to the drawings in the office collection of Robert and James Adam, albeit without the rear turret. The engraving shows the elevation of the building from the other side, similar to the Adam office drawing, with a bridged path leading to the principal floor at the end of a grand lake. Both of these suggest that the Adam office drawings are survey drawings as they do not show any proposed changes. Bolton suggests that the chimneypiece is in the style of early Inigo Jones, which would suggest it is probably contemporary with the existing gothic tower and not an Adam design. Tait suggests that this design is from the office of John and James Adam and that it could relate to the work they did for Inveraray Caslte in c.1755. It is also possible that these were survey drawings made for the client by Robert Adam either as a formal record of the building or for the potential of future changes which were never realised. The tower was demolished in the 1930s.

Literature: A. T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam, Volume II, Index, 1922, p. 52; Royal Institute of British Architects, Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects, p. 15; A. Murdoch, ‘Campbell, Archibald, third duke of Argyll (1682–1761)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online [accessed 06 November 2023]

Louisa Catt, 2023

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