Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 9th earl of

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Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 9th earl of [S] (1629–85). Campbell's father, the 1st marquis, had played an equivocal part in the civil wars and in 1661 was executed for treason. Campbell, who had fought on the royal side at Dunbar and Worcester, was restored to the earldom in 1663. His presbyterian sympathies placed him in jeopardy during James, duke of York's government of Scotland, and in 1681 he was accused of treason and lodged in Edinburgh castle. He escaped in disguise and joined Monmouth in Holland. Involved in the Rye House plot, he led an expedition to raise the west of Scotland in May 1685 to coincide with Monmouth's rising in the south-west of England. There was little support, divided counsels, and he was captured. Executed at Edinburgh, where his father had suffered before him, Argyll died with composure and bravery.

J. A. Cannon

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