RENTON, John Campbell (1814-1856), of Mordington House, Berwickshire

The second son of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Campbell of the 42nd Highlanders, and Susanna Renton, whose family owned extensive estates in Lamberton and Mordington on the Scottish border, Campbell was born at Edinburgh into a family ‘who had long been respected for their endeavours to provide for the amusements and sports’ of Berwick-upon-Tweed.1Berwick and Kelso Warder, 13 May 1853. His elder brother, Alexander, having died in 1838, he succeeded to his mother’s estates, 13 July 1842, whereupon he took the surname of Renton.2www.rentonfamily.angelfire.com/heirsscot.html.

At the 1847 general election Renton offered for Berwick-upon-Tweed, five miles south-east of his home at Mordington House, declaring that although he was ‘a Conservative in principle’, he was not ‘a blind follower of any man or party’.3Berwick Advertiser, 21 July 1847. He was, however, a staunch protectionist, insisting that the supremacy of Britain and her colonies depended on the maintenance of the navigation laws, and as an ‘admirer of the Protestant institutions of the country’ he fiercely opposed the Maynooth grant.4Quoted in M.J. Wickham, ‘Electoral politics in Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1832-1885’, unpublished MPhil thesis, Univ. of Durham (2002), 198, 212. Elected to the Commons with a comfortable majority, his early votes reflected his dislike of the extension of religious liberties, dividing against Roman Catholic relief, 8 Dec. 1847, and the Jewish disabilities bill, 11 Feb. 1848. Not surprisingly, he voted against the repeal of the navigation laws, 12 Mar. 1849, and opposed the ballot, 30 Mar. 1852. His attendance, however, was generally poor, and he made no known speeches in the Commons.5Renton was present for 46 out of 173 divisions in the 1849 session. Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle, 20 Oct. 1849. Following the dissolution in 1852, the Berwick Advertiser observed that on the few occasions when ‘he had found it convenient to attend Parliament’, he had voted ‘as if he was bid by Major Beresford’, a reference to Marcus Beresford, Tory MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, 1826-32, whose family were staunch opponents of Catholic emancipation.6Berwick Advertiser, 10 July 1852; Wickham, ‘Electoral politics’, 72.

At the 1852 general election, Renton was noticeably ambiguous on the issue of franchise reform, stating only that the subject ‘needed to be watched and discussed, adopted neither hastily nor violently’, and after a bitter and corrupt contest, was defeated by his two Liberal opponents.7Berwick Advertiser, 10 July 1852. Although the election was declared void, 25 Apr. 1853, at the ensuing by-election in May 1853, Renton was again soundly defeated by two Liberal candidates.8Berwick and Kelso Warder, 13 May 1853.

Following the death of his younger brother, William Mark Campbell, Renton inherited further lands in Symington, Lanarkshire, 23 Jan. 1854, but while visiting Malta in February 1856, he died suddenly from the effects of the rupture of a blood vessel.9Morning Post, 3 Mar. 1856. He was succeeded by his surviving younger brother, Archibald Colin Campbell, who took the additional name of Renton.10Gent. Mag. (1856), i. 525-6.