Campbell Stephen

{{Short description|Scottish socialist politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}

{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix = Reverend

| name = Campbell Stephen

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = 1884

| birth_place =

| death_date = 25 October {{Death year and age|1947|1884}}

| death_place =

| nationality = Scottish

| other_names =

| spouse = Dorothy Jewson

| education = Glasgow University

| occupation = minister, barrister, socialist politician

| party = Independent Labour Party

| years_active = MP (1922–1931,1935-1947)

| known_for =

| notable_works =

}}

Reverend Campbell Stephen (1884 – 25 October 1947) was a Scottish socialist politician.

A native of Glasgow,{{cite news |title=Death of Mr C. Stephen, M.P. |url=http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/infomark.do?docType=LTO&docLevel=FASCIMILE&prodId=BNCN&tabID=T012&type=multipage&version=1.0&retrieveFormat=MULTIPAGE_DOCUMENT&userGroupName=lancs&docPage=article&docId=IS3243226600&contentSet=LTO&source=gale |accessdate=15 July 2019 |work=The Gloucestershire Echo |publisher=British Library Newspapers |date=25 October 1947 |location=Gloucester, England |page=1}} he was educated at Townhead Public School, Allan Glen's School and Glasgow University.

He worked first as United Free Church Minister and then as a barrister.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXMAAwAAQBAJ&q=%22Campbell+Stephen%22+barrister&pg=PA68|title=Failure of a Dream: The Independent Labour Party from Disaffiliation to World War II|last=Cohen|first=Gidon|date=2007-03-30|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9780857712516|language=en}} He resigned his charge at the United Free Church in Ardrossan, Ayrshire in 1918 to contest Ayr Burghs in the same year.

He was Independent Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Camlachie from November 1922 to 1931 and from 1935 until his death.{{cite news |title=Mr. Campbell Stephen, M.P. |url=http://tinyurl.galegroup.com/tinyurl/BMrjR8 |accessdate=16 July 2019 |work=The Times |issue=50902 |date=27 October 1947 |location=London, England |page=6}}

He was one of James Maxton's closest political allies within the Independent Labour Party and supported Maxton both in his attempts to foster closer relations with the Communist Party and also during the disaffiliation debate in the early 1930s. Despite his strong support for ILP independence from the Labour Party when Maxton was alive, Stephen resigned the ILP whip to sit as an Independent from July 1947, and rejoined the Labour Party in October,{{Cite news|url=http://spartacus-educational.com/TUstephenC.htm|title=Campbell Stephen|last=Simkin|first=John|date=September 1997|work=Spartacus Educational|access-date=2018-02-01}} shortly before his death. His death sparked the 1948 Glasgow Camlachie by-election.{{cite news |title=Conservatives win Camlachie |url=http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/infomark.do?docType=LTO&docLevel=FASCIMILE&prodId=BNCN&tabID=T012&type=multipage&version=1.0&retrieveFormat=MULTIPAGE_DOCUMENT&userGroupName=lancs&docPage=article&docId=JF3229403399&contentSet=LTO&source=gale |accessdate=16 July 2019 |work=Courier and Advertiser |issue=29534 |publisher=British Library Newspapers |date=30 January 1948 |location=Dundee, Scotland |page=3}}

In 1945, he married Dorothy Jewson, a former Labour Member of Parliament for Norwich.