sketcher, merchant, politician and churchman, was born in Sydney on 25 July 1802, eldest son of Robert and Sophia Campbell . Educated in England, he returned to New South Wales to work in his father’s wharf, store and shipping business. By 1830 he was unofficially its head, officially so from 1836 until selling out in 1876. He was a member of parliament from 1856 until his death on 22 January 1886 at his home, Clunes, in the Sydney suburb of Stanmore.
John Campbell never married, but devoted himself to public charities, being a great patron of the Church of England and the Fine Arts. Despite some apparent artistic talent (presumably encouraged by his mother), Campbell never developed his youthful interest in sketching. At the second annual exhibition of the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1873 he showed a watercolour painted 'when very young’. 'As the youthful effort of a good friend to art, viewing it always from its education stand-point’, commented the Sydney Mail , 'No. 48 is highly creditable’. Slight sketches by him are included in an album owned by his sister-in-law and cousin, Marrianne Campbell .
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
