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Donald Cameron of Lochiel (1835–1905)

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The Right Honourable

The Lord Cameron of Lochiel

MP JP DL
Lochiel with Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden, 1861.
Lord Lieutenant of Inverness
Tenure1887–1905
PredecessorThe Lord Lovat
SuccessorAlfred Donald Mackintosh
Born5 April 1835
Richmond, Surrey, England
Died30 November 1905
Achnacarry, Lochaber, Scotland
Spouse(s)Lady Margaret Montagu Douglas Scott
Issue4, including Donald Walter Cameron, 25th Lochiel
ParentsDonald Cameron, 23rd Lochiel
Lady Vere Hobart
Statue in Fort William

Donald Cameron, 24th of Lochiel JP DL (5 April 1835 – 30 November 1905) was a Scottish Conservative politician, diplomat and Victorian courtier. An ambassador of the Elgin embassy to China, Cameron later sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885 and served as Lord Lieutenant of Inverness from 1887. He was also the 24th Lochiel (Chief) of Clan Cameron.

Early life

Donald Cameron was born in Richmond, Surrey, the eldest son of Captain Donald Cameron, 23rd Lochiel and Lady Vere Hobart, daughter of Hon. George Vere Hobart and Janet Cameron McLean. Lady Vere, born in St George's, Grenada, was a sister of the 5th Earl of Buckinghamshire and a cousin of Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay.[1] Lochaber joyously celebrated the birth of Cameron during the spring of 1835, with commemorative dinners held by Camerons "from Ballachulish Ferry to the Marches of Knoydart", as well as the lighting of bonfires on many prominent peaks, including Ben Nevis.[2]

Like his father, Cameron was educated at Harrow. At an early age rather than joining the army, Cameron entered into diplomatic service in Europe and the Far East.

Career

Cameron succeeded his father as Chief of the Camerons in 1858. He was employed in the diplomatic service and was First attache for the Earl of Elgin’s special embassy to the Qing dynasty in China during the Second Opium War. He was then at the British Embassy in Berlin where he met with Otto von Bismarck. Cameron then retired from the foreign office service and made Achnacarry his permanent home. He was the first chief to do so since the famous Gentle Lochiel gazed upon the burnt out ruins of the castle over a century earlier. Cameron was a Justice of the peace for Buckinghamshire and a deputy lieutenant (later Lord Lieutenant) for Inverness.[3] At the 1868 general election Cameron was elected Member of Parliament for Inverness-shire and sat in the House of Commons. He held the seat until 1885.[4] Lochiel served as a royal courtier and was groom in waiting to Queen Victoria from 1874 to 1880.[3] From 1887 he was the Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire.[5]

Active in sheep farming, Cameron had to take on the stakes of most of the sheep farms on the Estate during the acute depression in the industry. As such, he had an intimate knowledge of the shepherds plight, and that of the related business of deer stalking. He was appointed in 1883 to the Napier Association, to enquire into the grievances of the Crofters, and was later named to the Deer Forest Commission in 1894.[2]

Marriage and children

In 1875, Cameron married the Scottish noblewoman Lady Margaret Elizabeth Montagu Douglas Scott, daughter of Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch and 7th Duke of Queensberry of Dalkeith Palace, by his wife Charlotte Anne (née Thynne), daughter of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Marquess of Bath and Hon. Isabella Byng. They had the following issue:

All of Cameron's sons would serve in the British army during the First World War; two of them were killed.

Commemoration

Cameron is commemorated with a statue as Dòmhnall Camshron mac Dhòmhnaill Dubh in full Highland regalia in Fort William, Highland on the Parade, erected circa 1905. Tribute to a man who faithfully served both Lochaber and his clan during his lifetime.[6]

References

  1. ^ Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (1 ed.). Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A. p. 607.
  2. ^ a b c "The Chiefs of Clan Cameron". www.lochiel.net. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881
  4. ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "I"
  5. ^ "Clan Cameron genealogies". Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2007.
  6. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "THE PARADE DONALD CAMERON OF LOCHEIL STATUE (Category C Listed Building) (31794)". Retrieved 21 November 2021.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Inverness-shire
1868–1885 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Inverness
1887–1905 		Succeeded by


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