Hugh Campbell, 3rd Earl of Loudoun

Hugh Campbell, 3rd Earl of Loudoun, KT, PC (c. 1675 – 20 November 1731) was a Scottish landowner, peer, and statesman.

[2] In recommending Loudoun for the Court of Session, the Earl of Argyll wrote to William Carstares "Pray, let not E. Melvill's unreasonable pretending to the vacant gown make you slack as to E. Loudon, who, though a younger man, is an older and more noted presbyterian than he.

He has a deal of natural parts and sharpness, a good stock of clergy, and by being in business he will daily improve"[3]From 1703 to 1705 Loudoun was a Commissioner of the Treasury, then from 1705 to 1707 Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Scotland, holding the office jointly with John Erskine, Earl of Mar, the two men becoming the last holders of that office before the Acts of Union 1707 combined England and Scotland into a single Kingdom of Great Britain.

On 26 October of that year he wrote to Sidney Godolphin, Earl of Godolphin, that "manie of the common people are so much impos'd on us to be against the union in manie places of the Countrie," but he believed that the benefits it would bring would ultimately pacify the dissenting voices.

[1] On a visit to Scotland, Dr Samuel Johnson met Loudoun's widow in old age and says of her "I was introduced to two ladies of high quality, one of whom (Lady Loudoun) in her ninety-fourth year presided at her table with the full exercise of all her powers..."[7]