John Campbell JP was born in Strathmiglo in Fife and began work at 14 at Markinch.

He left his native Fife aged 18 in 1892 and moved to Glasgow where he found employment as a buyer with Pettigrew & Stephens Ltd, a major Glasgow department store. He progressed steadily through the ranks until he was appointed director when Pettigrew & Stephens became a limited company in 1904. He succeeded Sir Andrew Pettigrew as joint Managing Director when he retired and was appointed chairman in 1925/26. In 1926 he was appointed chairman of a new public company called the Scottish Drapery Corporation Ltd. This new company acquired controlling interests in well-known Scottish drapery businesses and amalgamated them under the one flag to increase buying power and financial resources. The management of the businesses remained undisturbed. He was also a director of several companies with connections to the drapery trade in both Scotland and London.

Campbell was an active member of the Trades House and was a past Deacon of the Tailors Corporation and member of the Merchants House. He was a director of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow and an elder in Pollokshields Sherbrooke Church. He died at Dunholme after a short illness on 13th November 1940. He is interred in St Drostan's Cemetery, Markinch.

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