Donald Hamish Cameron of Lochiel

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

DL FCA
Born(1910-09-12)12 September 1910
Buchanan Castle, Stirlingshire, Scotland
Died26 May 2004(2004-05-26) (aged 93)
Achnacarry, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1929–1958
RankColonel
Unit
Battles/warsWorld War II
AwardsOrder of the Thistle
Royal Victorian Order
Efficiency Decoration
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford
Spouse(s)
Margaret Gathorne-Hardy
​
​
(m. 1939)​
[1]
RelationsSir Donald Walter Cameron, 25th Lochiel (father)
Donald Angus Cameron, 27th Lochiel (son)
James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose (uncle)
Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose (cousin)
Arms of Donald Hamish Cameron of Lochiel

FCA (12 September 1910 – 26 May 2004) was a British Army officer, chartered accountant, landowner and the 26th Lochiel of Clan Cameron in the Scottish Highlands.[2] He served as commanding officer of the Lovat Scouts throughout the Second World War. He succeeded his father as Chief of the Camerons in 1951 and later served as Lord Lieutenant of Inverness.[3]

Early life

Born at Buchanan Castle near Drymen, the ancestral seat of his mother, Cameron was the son of Sir Donald Walter Cameron, 25th Lochiel and Lady Hermione Graham (1882–1978), daughter of Douglas Graham, 5th Duke of Montrose. After attending Harrow, the 19-year-old Cameron, younger of Lochiel, was commissioned as an officer in the Lovat Scouts before going to Balliol College, Oxford where he graduated as BA in 1933.

Second World War

See also: Lovat Scouts § Second World War
Lovat Scouts skiing in Canada

At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, he joined his regiment on mobilisation and was promoted to Major. Lord Lovat, supported by Cameron, devised the strategy of Commandos – elite, unorthodox shock raiders, modelled on old Boer soldiers. In 1940, the Commando Basic Training Centre (CBTC) was established. Between 1942 and 1946, over 25,000 allied personnel were trained at Achnacarry and it is widely believed that this was the birthplace of modern special forces.[4][5][6]

In 1943, Lochiel and the Lovat Scouts underwent specialist ski and mountain training in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada before being sent to Italy.[6] Arriving in Naples in 1944, Cameron fought in the aftermath of the infamous Battle of Monte Cassino, described as a scene of "utter and total devastation". He served with distinction for the remainder of the Italian campaign and was frequently mentioned in dispatches. Following the German surrender, the Lovat Scouts moved to Austria to hunt for fugitive Nazi and SS personnel before occupying the village of Ebene Eichenau in the Alps.[6] He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and then colonel in 1945. Cameron was then stationed in Greece before the regiment was disbanded in 1947.[7]

Upon his former regiments disbandment, he was transferred to the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, the ancestral regiment of the Camerons which had been founded in 1793 by Alan Cameron of Erracht. From 1958 Cameron served as honorary colonel of the 4th and 5th Battalion of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders (TA).[8]

Later life

Commando Memorial, near Spean Bridge, Lochaber

After active service, Cameron worked in London as an accountant and qualified as FCA. He and his wife lived in Kensington, London before taking up residence at Achnacarry Castle upon his succession as Clan Chief in 1951 following the death of his father.[9]

His experience as a

Inverness County Council, serving until 1971.[8]

Cameron was Chairman of

Crown Estates Commissioner from 1957 until 1969, and President of the Scottish Landowners Federation (1979–85).[11]

He was Lord Lieutenant of Inverness from 1971 to 1985.[12] In 1973, he was made a Knight of the Thistle (KT). Following his knighthood, Cameron's banner hung in St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh until his death in May, 2004.[13]

Family

On 21 July 1939, Lochiel married Margaret Doris ('Margot') Gathorne-Hardy, only daughter of Lt.-Col. the Hon.

Karori, New Zealand.[14][15]
They had four children:

Honours

The Thistle Star

References

  1. ^ "The Court of the Lord Lyon – Homepage". lyon-court.com. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  2. ^ "Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel Chief of the Clan Cameron, soldier and businessman". The Herald. Glasgow.
  3. ^ "Chief, Chieftain or Laird". debretts.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Commando role: Uncovering WW2 elite training centre". BBC News. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  5. ^ "Origins of the Special Forces | National Army Museum". www.nam.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Obituary: Sergeant Frank Henderson, soldier and civil servant". www.scotsman.com. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Lovat Scouts - Regiment History, War & Military Records & Archives". www.forces-war-records.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Col Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel". The Independent. 14 June 2004. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  9. ISBN 978-0-9711966-2-9
    .
  10. doi:10.3366/nor.2013.0051
    .
  11. ^ "Scottish Land & Estates". scottishlandandestates.co.uk.
  12. ^ www.achnacarry.com
  13. ^ "www.royal.gov.uk". royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 14 April 2010.
  14. ^ "Colonel Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel, KT". www.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Earl of Cranbrook (UK, 1892): Cracroft's Peerage". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  16. ^ a b c d "Genealogy: Lochiel's Family". Clan Cameron Rocky Mountain Branch. Retrieved 28 June 2023.

External links

Honorary titles
Preceded by
Lord Lieutenant of Inverness-shire

1971–1985 		Succeeded by
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