Campbell Patrick Ogilvie was born on March 21, 1854, in Crediton, Devon, England.

He was a civil engineer and naturalist. He was also a great traveller and frequently visited South America, where he was interested in railways and land development. He served as a director of the Central Argentine Railway, the Primitiva Gas Company of Buenos Aires, and other South American Companies. He was also a director and Deputy Chairman of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Company of South Wales and had large coal and iron interests in Russia. In 1891, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1910, he edited and read a paper entitled "Argentina from a British Point of View," for which he received the Society’s Silver medal. Ogilvie was also a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a member of the British Society. He was a keen student of fish life and acted as honorary curator of the Yarmouth Museum.

In 1900, he married Martha Emma Luise Frolich (1871–1930). He died on May 22, 1927, in Westminster, Middlesex, England.