Campbell at­tend­ed the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Ed­in­burg while quite young, and be­came a law­yer who de­vot­ed much of his time to the class­ics. In 1848, he be­gan trans­lat­ing La­tin hymns for re­lax­a­tion. In 1852, at age 38, he left the Epis­co­pal Church of Scot­land and be­came a Ro­man Ca­tho­lic. His works in­clude:

• Hymns and An­thems for the Use of Ho­ly Ser­vic­es of the Church with­in the Unit­ed Di­o­cese of St. An­drews, Dunk­eld, and Dun­blane (Ed­in­burgh, Scot­land: R. Len­drum & Co., 1850). This work be­came known as the St. And­rews Hymn­al.