John of the Bank, also known as John Campbell of the Citadel (1705-1777) Writer to the Signet, First Cashier of Royal Bank of Scotland, and Deputy Keep of the Great Seal of Scotland. His parents were Colin Campbell of Ardmaddy, youngest son of the 1st Earl of Breadalbane, and Grizelda Douglas. He was believed to have been illegitimate, although some evidence suggests that Colin and Grizelda were in fact married, but that the Earl disapproved of the match and therefore had all evidence of it destroyed. John was one of the founders of the Royal Bank of Scotland, and his image also appeared on a Scottish bank note.
The bank is called The Royal Bank of Scotland, the 'new bank', still existing, not to be mixed with the 'old' one, i.e. Bank of Scotland founded 50 years earlier. The old bank was considered too Jacobite, and the new bank was for political reasons stablished as a Hanoverian bank, hence the 'Royal' in the name.
John himself did not found the bank, but it was strongly supported by Earl of Argyll and his half-uncle John, Earl of Ilay, later the 2nd Earl of Breadalbane. Both, and later the 3rd Earl were all big clients of the bank, and John managed the accounts of his benefactors.
There is an existing pamphlet, a transcript of his diary covering the period when Bonnie Prince Charles resided in Edinburgh and needed cash to pay his troops (1745). John provided huge amounts in silver and gold coins to the Jacobite enemy from the Hanoverian bank's vault, temporarily in the secure cellars of Edinburgh Castle. This was done at great personal risk, and those funds were used in the Jacobite march into England to attempt to usurp the Crown.
In 1762 John bought a property at the Citadel, Leith, where the large Campbell family was raised. There was also a flat above the bank in Fishmarket Close, just off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, where both John and Ann Carolina sometimes stayed when business or social obligations kept them in the city.
Sources:
http://heritagearchives.rbs.com/people/list/john-campbell.html
http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getperson.php?personID=I41724&tree=CC
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/collection/artists-a-z/m/artist/william-mosman/object/john-campbell-of-the-bank-about-1703-1777-banker-and-businessman-pgl-2311
