Reviewed by: A History of Clan Campbell, Volume III: From the Restoration to the Present Day William H. Campbell A History of Clan Campbell, Volume III: From the Restoration to the Present Day. By Alastair Campbell of Airds. Pp. xxvii, 444. ISBN 0 7486 1790 6. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2004. £27.50. Volume III of The History of Clan Campbell begins immediately where its predecessor left off, with the House of Argyll regrouping in the wake of the disastrous [End Page 356] death of its chief, as it had before and would again. The ensuing narrative chapters take the reader through the part played by the hierarchy of the Campbell clan in the political and military engagements of the late seventeenth to mid-eighteenth centuries, thinning out considerably towards the end (indeed, the period 1717-1744 is given three and a half pages). A new problem faced by the author in this volume, however, is the continuation of a clan history through the end of clanship itself as a legal and social construct and on to the more vague and sentimental forms familiar in the present day. His solution was to give only the first half of the main text to narrative, followed by thematic chapters on changing landholding practices; Campbells under arms; emigration to the Americas, India and the Antipodes; and 'Some Notables' of Campbell ancestry ranging from pipers to politicians. It is here that one finds more discussion of the developments from the first half of the eighteenth century onwards. By nature, only the first and second of these chapters are likely to be of interest to academics, the remainder appealing to Campbells taking pride (duly circumscribed by the author) in being nominally among, and possibly related to, such luminaries. Nonetheless, these chapters are well researched in a broad variety of sources. The final chapter, 'Notes on the Chiefs and their Families', belongs more with the appendices than with the text. The appendices comprise five pages on Campbell peerage titles, useful as a quick reference when the Scots Peerage is not at hand, and eighty pages on Campbell heraldry. As Unicorn Pursuivant of Arms, the author's knowledge of both topics may be taken as definitive. The armorial may be useful to researchers attempting to identify wax seals or other emblazoned artefacts, though it is arranged for reference by name, not description. Despite his expertise on the subject, Campbell of Airds somewhat disappointingly did not supply even a brief guide to terminology or a bibliography of recommended works on Scottish heraldry. Those who cannot immediately picture, say, 'a boar's head caboshed between a crescent and a spur revel in fess' will not be enlightened. Like its predecessors, the third and final volume of this series 'does not claim to be, nor is it intended as, an academic work', aiming nonetheless at being 'accurate', 'serious' and 'readable' (Volume I, p. xxiii). In this venue, two judgements clearly need to be made: does it satisfy the author's aspirations; and, despite the disclaimer, is it of some use to academics? Campbell of Airds has the double advantage of personal knowledge of the land and family of his origins and extensive experience in working with the relevant primary sources. While he is aware of much local oral history and includes some in his pages, he has the critical sense to analyse it well in light of the available documentary record. If the footnotes to secondary sources are less diverse than in academic tomes, then they do still demonstrate acquaintance with and good use of other recent scholarship. 'Serious' and 'readable' are balanced fairly well. For instance, the author includes numerous document transcriptions, most of them lists of names, as of landholders or military officers. Such lists are followed by analysis; in some cases, the analysis might be thought to render the text itself superfluous, but some readers may catch particular names of interest to them. In between such passages, the narrative is enjoyable and well paced, but never frivolous. The author has therefore attained his object. His purpose is not so much to break new ground (although he occasionally does, especially for the earlier years) as to unravel the...
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