On This Day
30 April 1823
Birth of George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, politician and author
Argyll first entered the cabinet in 1852 as Lord Privy Seal in the coalition administration of Lord Aberdeen and served in every Liberal cabinet until 1881, when he resigned from Gladstone’s second administration in opposition to the Irish Land Bill. In 1886 Argyll broke completely with the Liberals over Gladstone’s espousal of Irish home rule but, unlike many of his colleagues who left the party at the same time, he did not join the Liberal Unionists. Argyll published a number of influential books on science and economics. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1851.