Personal data
Bruce Campbell
Born 1734
Died February, 1813

Of Milrig, Mayfield and Hillhouse. Son of Hugh Campbell (1703-1782) and Margaret Henderson. Married (1772) to Annabella Wilson (b. ca. 1751), daughter of James Wilson of Kilmarnock. Grandson of Hugh Campbell and Margaret Boswell (b. 1672), daughter of James Boswell's great-grandfather David Boswell. Bruce Campbell and Annabellahad at least 10 children.1

Boswell was with Milrig at Marchmont House on October 18, 1762, describing him as "a rough, blunt, resolute young fellow with much common sense, and is very obliging to his friends". In Boswell's London Journal Boswell refers to a letter he had received from Campbell sometime before, suggesting that he "should call on a lady of the town named Miss Watts and treat her with another [bottle of sherry]".2 Miss Watts was a prostitute and on May 19, 1763, Boswell went to see her.

Later on, Bruce Campbell acted as Supervisor of Auchinleck in Boswell's absence. In a letter to Campbell dated November 13, 1788, poet Robert Burns asked Campbell for an introduction to Boswell.3

Unless otherwise noted, the source for a dated quotation of Boswell's is generally the corresponding volume of the Yale Trade Editions of Boswell's journals.