The Legacy Continues

Aylmer and his brother, William, both married and between the two of them, would have 16 children, and they would see their sons and nephews enter into the armed forces.

Sir William Gordon Cameron married Helen Colebrook Mary Littler, the daughter of General Sir John Hunter Littler, in 1857. Of their four sons, all would see war.
The eldest William Gordon was serving with the 79th (Cameron Highlanders) in 1885. The regiment had been in Egypt for some years and was now called upon to join the expedition to save General Gordon, who was trapped at Khartoum. The efforts, however, were in vain and “It had now been definitely decided to withdraw the Nile expedition, and accordingly a frontier field force, consisting of the 20th Hussars, West Kent, Stafford, and Yorkshire regiments, and the Cameron Highlanders, was formed …to hold the Soudan frontier.” On 16 December, young Lieutenant Cameron met his untimely end at the assault on Kosheh Fort. “On the 16th of December, ‘F ‘ and ‘H‘ companies, under Lieutenant-Colonel Everett, were sent out at 6 a.m. to make a demonstration against the enemy occupying the village of Absari. As the companies approached, the dervishes opened a heavy fire from the loopholed houses, which was vigorously replied to. Lieutenant Riach, with Lance-Sergeant Murray, Corporal Macrae, and Privates Gray and King, moving by the bank of the river, attacked a party of the enemy concealed behind some black rocks in the nullah [dry river bed] between Kosheh and Absari, and killed fourteen of them. In doing this, Lieutenant Riach had a very narrow escape, as a bullet, fired by a dervish from the top of the rocks, passed through his helmet, removing some of his hair. Corporal Macrae was wounded in the hand. Having advanced close to the village, the companies retired again undercover of the guns in the fort. In this reconnaissance, the Cameron Highlanders had Major Chalmers (severely), Lieutenant W. G. Cameron (fatally), and four rank and file wounded. Major Archibald Hunter, 9th battalion, Egyptian army, was also very dangerously wounded.

Lieutenant Cameron died of his wounds on 19 December and in reference to his death, the commanding officer wrote, “In Lieutenant Cameron, the Cameron Highlanders have lost a most promising and gallant young officer, whose zeal and readiness to perform any duty, however difficult or dangerous, will long be remembered by all who have served with him.” He was buried outside the walls of Kosheh Fort.

Major George Ewen Eyre Gordon Cameron (b. 1871) serving with the Gordon Highlanders would likely have seen action in the Boer Wars – however, he died, just aged 37, in 1908.

His youngest sons, Major General Neville John Gordon (b.1873) and Napier Charles Gordon (b.1876) both served in WWI.

Serving with the Cameron Highlanders, Neville saw action in the Sudan in 1898 during the Mahidist War and was present not only at the Battle of Atbara but the Siege of Khartoum. He then served in the 2nd Boer War and in 1913 became a staff officer at the War Office in London. Shortly before the British entered WWI, Cameron went to France as AAQMG to the 1st Division; he then served on the General Staff with Scottish Command and later with the 34th Division. This would see him at the Battle of the Somme in 1916, commanding the 34th Division’s 103rd Brigade. Machine gun fire put an end to it all on the first day of the offensive, but Cameron returned to the front that September until the end of the war, serving successively as a staff officer and a brigade and division commander. He died in 1955. His only son, Lieutenant William Neville (b. 1923), was killed in action in Italy on 2 October 1944 while serving with the Cameron Highlanders. He lies buried at Coriano Ridge Cemetery.

The youngest son, Napier Charles Gordon Cameron, served in the 79th Regiment. He had initially joined Lord Strathcona’s Horse in 1900 and obtained a commission the following year in the Scottish Horse. Like his brother, he served in the Boer Wars of 1900-1902, during which he was severely wounded. He transferred to the Cameron Highlanders in 190 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1914. WWI would sadly see the end of his life. Serving with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders, he was killed in action at the Battle of Aisne on 25 September 1914. He had married the year before to Constance Brooke (daughter of Captain Brooke, late Gordon Highlander) – his widow gave birth to their daughter, Honor Napier Gordon, in December 1914.

Colonel Aylmer Spicer Cameron married Arabella Peircy Henderson in 1865. Although he died relatively young in 1909, before his death, he would sadly witness the deaths of his two eldest sons. Lieutenant Aylmer Charles Lockhart (b. 1866) died in Malta in July 1893 of ‘typhilitis’ while serving with the Royal Navy; he second son, Neville Gordon (b. 1876), had decided to follow a different path and settled himself as a farmer in Tasmania, where he died, just aged 28.
Orford Somerville (b. 1878), his third son, would serve in the Royal Artillery, ending his career as a Brigadier with a Distinguished Service Order. He died in 1958, aged 80.
Cyril St. Clair (1879) would live a long life serving the Royal Navy, ending his career as a Vice Admiral and a CBE. He died aged 93 in 1973.

The youngest son, Cecil Aylmer (b. 1883), would, however, be attached to a scandal early on in his career. Like his brothers, Cecil had received a good education: he attended Eastman’s Academy, Bath College, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1901. He married Ruby Mary Shawe in 1909, and by all means, things were not quite as they seemed. In 1911, his wife claimed she had been robbed on a street corner of a valuable pearl necklace. The theft was reported to the police and Mrs. Cameron. Her husband, believing his wife’s version of events, made an insurance claim for the price of the said necklace, valued at £6500. It was somewhat unfortunate that Cameron had written to Hall & Co., prior to the theft, stating he wished to make an investment of £6000.

However, Lloyds was not convinced there had been a robbery at all, and the case ended up in front of the court in Edinburgh. The case was something of a mess – two witnesses, servant girls employed by the Camerons, recanted, stating Mrs. Cameron had, in fact, not been attacked at all. The lieutenant stayed silent throughout the trial, and when it was all over, the judge sent the pair to jail. Mrs. Cameron, due to ill-health, was released after a few months, but her husband, silent to the last, completed three years. As it was, his wife finally confessed that indeed, there had been no robbery and insisted now her husband knew nothing of the plan and had filed the insurance claim in good faith. After his release, a petition, signed by no less than five dukes, twenty members of the privy council and 126 generals, sought to reestablish his name and secure him a pardon. The petition worked, and Lieutenant Cameron received not only a full pardon but was restored to his rank.
Cameron served as a staff officer in France during WWI, leading to four mentions in despatches and a DSO; however, under the codename ‘Evelyn,’ he was responsible for running a network of spies in occupied France and Belgium from stations in England, the Netherlands and France. In 1918, with an appointment to the War Office in London, he was appointed Chief Intelligence Officer with the British Military Mission to Siberia – as a gifted linguist and fluent in Russian, it was certainly a job perfect for Cameron, who received a CBE for his services. On August 14 1924, however, everything came to a sudden end when Cameron relinquished his commission, citing ill-health. Although he retained the rank of captain, four days later, on 18 August, Cameron was found dead at Hillsborough Barracks in Sheffield, of a gunshot wound, aged 41. The court of inquiry returned a verdict of suicide while suffering from temporary insanity.

The Past and the Present

The grandsons of Aylmer Cameron did continue the legacy of service in the armed forces for some years to come; however, with successive years, the line was gradually diminishing.
Brigadier Orford Somerville had two sons – the eldest, named Aylmer Peter, became a clergyman, his other son, Orford Gordon, joined the Royal Navy and served with distinction in WWII.
Vice Admiral Cyril St. Clair’s only son, Charles St. Clair, would pursue a career in the Royal Navy and retire with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and Aylmer’s grandson, (son of his daughter Esme and her husband, Vice Admiral J.C. Henley) would retire as Rear Admiral Sir Joseph Charles Cameron Henley. As for the only son of Cecil Aylmer Cameron, named Evelyn (b. 1916), history has been rather silent, and he died at the early age of 58 in 1974, in Kent.

It must be noted that while we have explored the lives of just a few of the Cameron men, their sisters and daughters too carried on the legacy of sending their sons to serve their country, and they added other names to the list, such as Strange, Stewart, Shute, Hogge, Henley and Macnair, among others. Over 200 years of fighting men who share a past, started by a now obscure Episcopalian clergyman, William James Cameron, in 1692.

^{Sources:
Behan, T. L. Bulletins and Other State Intelligence for the Year 1858. Vol. II. London: Harrison & Son, London Gazette Office, 1860.
Bulloch, John Malcolm. The Gordons of Embo with Other Families of the Name in the County of Sutherland. Dingwall: Printed by the Ross-shire Printing & Publishing Co., Ltd., 1908.
Historical Records of the 72nd Highlanders, 1777-1886. Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1886. Printed for private circulation.
Intelligence Branch, comp. The Revolt in Central India 1857-59. Simla: Government Monotype Press, 1908.
The Rules and Regulations with an Alphabetical List of the Members of the Army and Navy Club. London: H. M. Pollett, 1861.}

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