Breadalbane, John Campbell, 1st earl of [key], 1635?–1717, Scottish nobleman. He took part in the royalist rising of 1654 and helped George Monck to further the restoration (1660) of Charles II. In 1688 he privately supported James II, but he did not commit himself openly and took advantage of the Act of Indemnity to swear allegiance to William III (1689). His strong position among the highland clans made him a useful intermediary in negotiating the submission of the chiefs in 1691. He has been blamed for instigating the massacre of the MacDonalds of Glencoe (1692), allegedly using their failure to submit on time as a pretext for settling old scores with that clan. He took no active part in negotiating the Act of Union (1707) but was a representative peer in the united Parliament (1713–15). He gave nominal support only to the Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
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