Sir John Logan Campbell was a prominent New Zealand public figure. He was described by his contemporaries as "the father of Auckland".
Early life
John Logan Campbell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 3 November 1817, a son of the Edinburgh surgeonJohn Campbell and his wife Catherine and grandson of the 3rd baronet of Aberuchil and Kilbryde Castle, near Dunblane, Perthshire. He had four sisters but his two elder brothers had died by the time he reached the age of two, and he became the only surviving son. Campbell graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1839 and later that year sailed for the antipodes, New South Wales, as a surgeon on the emigrant ship Palmyra.
Campbell was appointed to the Auckland Executive Council on 20 March 1855, and he served until 15 September of that year. He was then Superintendent of Auckland Province from 25 November 1855 to 17 September 1856.
Campbell was a successful businessman and had entered into a partnership with William Brown in 1840, beginning operations as Auckland's first merchant firm, Brown and Campbell. By 1856 Campbell and Brown decided that their enterprises and properties, now worth £110,000, could be entrusted to a salaried manager, while they lived on the dividends as expatriates. Brown and his family left early in the year, but Campbell's departure was delayed. Much against his inclinations he became caught up in politics, serving as provincial superintendent, then as a member of the House of Representatives for the City of Auckland, and briefly as a member of the colony's first stable, responsible ministry under E. W. Stafford. These 'earthly baubles' he gladly resigned in September. On 20 November 1856 he left the colony, he hoped for good. While travelling abroad, he married Emma Wilson on 25 February 1858 at Meerut, NWP India. She was a daughter of Sir John Cracroft Wilson, who later settled in Canterbury. They had three children: Ida, born at Naples on 22 December 1859 and died in London 1880; and twins John Logan and Winifred born at Florence on 26 May 1864. John Logan died in infancy and Winifred married Herbert Cyril Orde Murray a lieutenant in the 1st Gloucestershire Regiment on 10 December 1889. Apart from an interlude during 1860 and 1861, when he was obliged to go to Auckland to reinvigorate the firm – now called Brown Campbell and Company – and to install a resident partner, the Campbells lived in various parts of Europe until 1871. On his return early in 1871, Campbell took over full control. Two years later he bought out Brown's partnership share for over £40,000. Becoming a part of the business community again, he became involved with the Bank of New Zealand, the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Company, the New Zealand Insurance Company, and related companies. He founded Auckland's first school of art in 1878 and supported it for 11 years. When depression overwhelmed Auckland in 1885 and the Stock Market collapsed in 1886, there began a desperate struggle for financial survival. Campbell sold several businesses and properties, concentrating his energies on Brown Campbell and Company, a brewery and liquor importer. Campbell retained his properties at One Tree Hill partly because he wanted to create a suitable residence for his family. He envisaged an Italianate mansion similar to James Williamson's at Hillsborough, surrounded by an elegant estate. He set about planting trees to create a suitable landscape garden. His wife Emma, however, had other ideas and the house, Killbryde, was eventually built in Parnell, a location much more handy to town. This property is now part of the Parnell Rose Gardens and Dove Myer Robinson Park. The house was demolished in 1924. In his later years, Campbell was concerned about the increasing suburban development of Auckland and decided to donate his remaining farmland at One Tree Hill to the city as a public amenity to be called Corinth Park – named after a part of Greece which Campbell had admired on his travels. His planting of groves of olive trees may have been connected to this. The presentation of the park would probably have taken place after Campbell's death in the form of a bequest had not providence intervened in the form of the Royal Tour of 1901.
In 1901, Campbell was approached to be Mayor of Auckland for the royal visit that year, ] as David Goldie, a temperance advocate, did not want to toast the visiting Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York with alcohol. Rather than incur an election at short notice, it was decided to honour Campbell with the position. Campbell only accepted on the grounds that it was completely honorary and that he wouldn't be involved in any politics. He was elected by the councillors, not the electorate. He resigned from the mayoralty the month after the royal visit. During the royal visit, Logan Campbell donated Cornwall Park to the people of New Zealand and named it after the Duke and Duchess.
Later life
Campbell was made a knight bachelor on 14 August 1902, after the honour had been announced in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902. He lived long enough to witness the erection of the bronze statue of him in Mayoral Robes at the Manukau Road entrance to Cornwall Park. He died on 22 June 1912, and is buried on the summit of Auckland's One Tree Hill, which he had named, in the middle of Cornwall Park. He had always intended that the summit would be the location of a monument to the Maori people and left instructions and funds for its erection in his will and Trust Deeds. The Trustees felt that development of the park as a public facility took immediate priority and so construction of the obelisk did not commence until the late 1930s. This meant the official dedication was delayed as the Maori elders did not wish to formally dedicate it during a time of war. His grave is located in the middle of the flat platform which serves as the forecourt to the monument.
