the City of Auckland 1855–1856 (resigned). He was elected unopposed on 4 August 1860 in the Suburbs of Auckland electorate, replacing Joseph Hargreaves. Campbell retired at the end of the 2nd Parliament in late 1860. He was a minister without portfolio in the government of Edward Stafford between June and November 1856. Middle years Campbell was a successful businessman and had entered into a partnership with William Brown in 1840, beginning operations as Auckland's first merchant firm, Brown and Campbell. In May 1854, the Signet ship was purchased on behalf of Campbell in Geelong, Australia for the timber trade. By 1856 Campbell and Brown decided that their enterprises and properties, now worth £110,000, could be entrusted to a salaried manager, while they lived on the dividends as expatriates. Brown and his family left early in the year, but Campbell's departure was delayed. On 20 November 1856 he left the colony, he hoped for good. While travelling abroad, he married Emma Wilson on 25 February 1858 at Meerut, NWP India. She was a daughter of Sir John Cracroft Wilson, who later settled in Canterbury. They had four children: Cecily born in Auckland on 16 May 1861 died 20 November 1861 aged 6 months, Ida, born at Naples on 22 December 1859 and died in London 1880; and twins John Logan and Winifred born at Florence on 26 May 1864. John Logan died in infancy in Florence, Italy and is buried at in the English Cemetery at the Piazzale Donatello - Delgli Inglesi. 'And there lies buried in that little grave,' Campbell told his two daughters, 'the poor Papa's hopes that to him had been born a son who would be his pride and pleasure in his declining years and to whose care the name of his Firm would have been handed down to another generation. . . . And thus it is that our fondest hopes and dearest aspirations are ever and again doomed to a bitter disappointment'. With this bereavement, Campbell said, 'we felt ourselves completely unhinged', 'the brightness of that Florence home was gone'. Apart from an interlude during 1860 and 1861, when he was obliged to go to Auckland to reinvigorate the firm – now called Brown Campbell and Company – and to install a resident partner, the Campbells lived in various parts of Europe until 1871. On his return early in 1871, Campbell took over full control.