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Name: CAMPBELL, Colin Moffat 8th Bart. MC, Sir

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Nee: 8th Bart of Aberuchill, son of John Alexander Coldstream Campbell

Birth Date: 4 Aug 1925 West Ashford, Kent

Death Date: 1 Dec 1997 Scotland

Profession: Chairman of Kenya Tea Board 1961-71

Area: Nairobi

Married: In Kensington 21 May 1952 Mary Anne Chichester Bain b. 8 May 1930

Children: James Alexander Moffat Bain (1956), John Alistair Chichester (1960), Janet Mary Bain (11 June 1953 Calcutta-1978)

Book Reference: Sitrep 2, Hut, Debrett, mini-SITREP XII, Burke, Telegraph Obit.

War Service: WW2 1944-45 with Scots Guards (wounded, MC)

School: Stowe

General Information:

One of the original '500' men in the Kenya Regt. in 1937. (KR 134).
Burke - with James Finlay & Son Calcutta 1948-58, Nairobi 1958-71 (dep chmn 1973-75, chmn 1975-90) Chmn Tea Board of Kenya 1961-71, Pres Fedn Kenya  Employers 1962-70 etc.
Telegraph - 18 Dec 1997 - Sir Colin Campbell, 8th Bt. Of Aberuchill, who has died aged 72, was awarded an MC in 1945 and later became a leader of the Kenya tea trade. Known affectionately as "Sir Cumference" Campbell was a substantial figure in every sense. As the general manager in Nairobi of the Glasgow-based tea merchants James Finlay & Co. he was chairman for 10 years of the Tea Board of Kenya, 3 times chairman of the East African Tea Trade Association and President of the Federation of Kenya Employers. An astute but idiosyncratic operator, Campbell was regarded by his staff with a mixture of "awe, fear, exasperation and affection in that order" as one colleague put it. Never an enthusiast for modern management techniques, he addressed almost everyone by their surname and peppered his memoranda with Latin, French and Hindi phrases. He drove like a maniac, claiming to have set a record for the fastest journey from Nairobi to the Finlay estates at Kericho, in the Kenyan Highlands, in his Humber Super Snipe. The elder son of the 7th baronet, Colin Moffat Campbell was born on 4 Aug 1925 and succeeded his father in 1960. The family descends from Lord Aberuchill, a Lord of Justiciary who sat as MP for Perthshire in the old Scottish parliament and was created a baronet in 1667 or 1668, the original patent being lost. Young Colin was educated at Stowe, where he conceived an ambition to join James Finlay, to become chairman, and from that position to devote his time and money to restoring the family's Scottish seat, Kilbryde Castle, at Dunblane. All of this he did. The castle had not been lived in by his father or grandfather (it had been let to a girl's school) and was much neglected by the time Campbell and his wife moved in on their return from Africa. ……………… [more] On leaving the army in 1947, Campbell joined James Finlay and spent 10 years working in their Calcutta office. There his enormous, autocratic personality was quickly and firmly established in the commercial, social and sporting life. In 1958, he moved to Nairobi …………… In Kenya his weight rose to 26 stones. When playing squash he would position himself in the centre of the court and, by playing ambidextrously, would make it impossible for an opponent to get past him to score a point. When serving on committees, his huge figure, wreathed in cigar smoke, dominated the proceedings. Of Campbell's management style, a friend wrote that "whatever tactics he used for reigning supreme, furtiveness was not one of them.He was wont to announce his impending arrival by shouting at all and sundry as they came within range - a considerable distance." Returning to Scotland in 1971 ………….. In later life, Campbell showed utter disregard for the risks of a diabetic condition; he drank a concoction of gin, cointreau and bitter lemon before dinner, and never missed a chocolate pudding, declaring he could always take another slug of insulin if things took a turn for the worse. …………………. Colin Campbell married in 1952, Mary Bain, whom he cheerfully described as "my most consistent and determined critic" - whilst acknowledging equally cheerfully that no one else could have put up with him as a husband. They had a daughter and 2 sons, of whom the elder, James, born in 1956, succeeds in the baronetcy.
Hut has Sir Colin Campbell (2) African Highlands Produce, Kericho.
Hut has Colin Campbell MC 1936 Limuru - went to Malta

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