John Frederick Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor FRS (8 November 1790 – 7 November 1860) was a British peer and MP.

He was born the son of John Campbell, 1st Baron Cawdor and Lady Caroline Howard and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, graduating BA in 1812. In 1827 he became Viscount Emlyn of Emlyn and Earl Cawdor of Castlemartin in the county of Pembroke.

In June 1812, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[1] That same year, he stood for election to the House of Commons for Pembrokeshire after the sitting member, Lord Milford, stood down in his favour. Campbell was, however, defeated by Sir John Owen of Orielton.^[2]

He was MP for Carmarthen from 1813 to 1821 and Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire from 1817 to 1860. He died on the eve of his 70th birthday from a gangrenous infection from a carbuncle on his right arm at his family estate at Stackpole, Pembrokeshire.^[3]

In 1831, at the Coronation of King William and Queen Adelaide, Earl Cawdor carried and presented the queen consort's ivory rod with dove.^[4]

Family

He had married Lady Elizabeth Thynne, daughter of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath and the Hon. Isabella Elizabeth Byng, on 5 September 1816. They had seven children:

• Lady Georgiana Campbell.
• John Frederick Vaughan Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor (1817–1898).
• Lady Emily Caroline Campbell (1819–1911), who married Octavius Duncombe. She served as a Lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of Cambridge at the 1838 coronation of Queen Victoria.^[5]
• Lady Elizabeth Lucy Campbell (1822–1898) – John Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart
• Lady Mary Louisa Campbell (1825–1916), who married George Egerton, 2nd Earl of Ellesmere.
• Reverend Hon. Archibald George Campbell (1827–1902).
• Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Henry Walter Campbell (1835–1910).