Campbell, David Callender (1891–1963), colonial official and politician, was born 29 January 1891 in southern India, son of William Howard Campbell, missionary, and Elizabeth Nevin Campbell (née Boyd). Educated at Foyle College, Derry, he then studied mathematics and science at Edinburgh University. On graduating he went to Hungary, working as a private tutor till he was interned at the beginning of the first world war. After the war he served briefly on an Allied mission in Budapest and then entered the colonial service, holding various positions in Tanganyika and Uganda throughout the 1920s and 1930s. In 1942 he was chosen to be colonial secretary in Fiji, but took up the same post in Gibraltar instead. Later that year he went to Malta as acting lieutenant-governor, having the appointment ratified in 1943. During his tenure (1943–52) the island was granted limited self-government (1947); however, for three brief periods (1946, 1949, 1951) Campbell was the officer administering government.
In 1952 he retired to Northern Ireland. He was elected unionist MP for Belfast South in a Westminster by-election, holding the seat (1952–63) with huge majorities at subsequent elections. During this time he made a limited impact outside the commons but was respected within, being chairman of the Ulster Unionist group from 1955 and a member of the executive committee of the Conservative Party's 1922 Committee. He was appointed to numerous bodies including the British United Tourist Association and the executive committee of the Commonwealth Party Association. He received a litany of honours during his career, including a CMG (1944), a knighthood (1945), and a KBE (1950) and was made a privy councillor (1963). In 1961 he was conferred with an honorary LLD by QUB.
While in Budapest he married (1919) Ragnhild Gregerson, daughter of a Hungarian mother and Norwegian father; they had no children. She was still alive when he died 12 June 1963 at Battle Hospital, Reading.