Born: 18 August, 1924, in Portsmouth.
Died: 22 June, 2008, in Tighnamara, Argyll, aged 83. HUGH Campbell-Gibson had a distinguished career in the Royal Navy and served on several destroyers during the Second World War. Much
of his service was on convoy duty in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic: both were hazardous and dangerous theatres of the war.
He came to Scotland on his retirement in1960 to renovate and rebuild Glenlussa, a hill farm on Kintyre that his forebears had once farmed. In 1970, he bought the adjoining Dunmor on the Isle of Seil, which he later opened as the Dunmor Hotel and soon had a deserved reputation for high class cuisine – mostly created by his wife. Campbell-Gibson was a key figure in Argyll and served on many countryside and garden committees. He was a Senior Steward at the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban.
Hugh Desmond Campbell-Gibson was born into a naval family – his father was an admiral – and although he was brought up in Surrey, the family came north every year to holiday at Melfort in Argyll. He attended Magdalene Court School in Broadstairs and then, in 1938 began his training at Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. By 1942 he was on active service as midshipman on HMS Nile in the Mediterranean and then with several other destroyers (Brecon, Echo, and Valiant) before being promoted to the senior sub-lieutenant in charge of the gunroom on HMS Belfast. He was with Belfast when it played an important role in the D-Day landings .
For a year from 1946, Campbell-Gibson was the flag-lieutenant to the C-in-C Pacific Fleet on the cruiser HMS Sussex. His first command was on HMS Orestes, which was involved in the Fishery Protection Squadron. In 1957, with Orestes, he became officer-in-charge in Campbeltown a post he particularly relished. One of his warmest memories was welcoming the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh to Campbeltown when they sailed up the west coast on Britannia. In June 1960, Campbell-Gibson retired from the Royal Navy.
For almost a decade, he and his wife, Deirdre, refurbished the house at Glenlussa, near Peninver, and expanded their sheep farming business. The house is situated on the shores of the Kilbrannan Sound, with glorious views towards Arran, Ailsa Craig and the Ayrshire coast. The refurbishment was such a success that Campbell-Gibson bought Dunmor on the Isle of Seil, an idyllic hamlet 12 miles south of Oban and connected to the mainland by the old hump-backed Clachan Bridge.
They improved the quality of the land and converted the house into a popular tourist centre. The Dunmor Hotel, which opened in 1970, was regularly written up and nominated in the Good Food Guide every year from 1971 to 82.
In 1982, he sold Dunmor and retired for the second time. This time, he and Deirdre went to live in the family house, Tighnamara, on the shores of Loch Melfort. He and Deirdre were, in fact, cousins and both were keen to live on the land once owned by their ancestors. He wrote his autobiography, Besides the Sea, which told of his naval career and devoted much space to his love of Argyll and gardening. He and Deirdre cultivated their garden magnificently and a fascinating section of the book tells how to garden in Argyll and produce colour throughout the summer. The garden was regularly opened to the public under Scotland's Garden Scheme and he preserved, and greatly enhanced, the ancient woodland around the Pass of Melfort.
Campbell-Gibson also worked for Clan Campbell, acted as chairman of the community council and was connected with the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
In the forward to his autobiography, he wrote: "Throughout my life, an enthusiasm for gardening and the countryside has been a continuous theme, coupled with a deep attachment to the land of my forebears in which we are fortunate to live."
He is survived by Deirdre, whom he married in 1949, and their three children.
The full article contains 681 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
