Autumn 11 - The Clan Cameron Association Scotland.

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the women and girls had left the church. In the winter, each family was lighted to church by a hurricane lantern, or a ship’s lantern; and these were carefully placed on the floor, with the flame turned down, until the service was over, when they were turned up for the homeward journey. There was something very comforting about the string of twinkling lights which pierced the darkness as the congregation walked home.” The daily routines of the young Cameron sisters were intertwined with the heart of the St. Kildan community, and their parents served important roles within the community. However, they did not live in isolation on the island as they worked, prayed and played alongside the other St. Kildans as is illustrated in another account left by Mary Cameron. “We were sometimes taken of an evening, with our parents when they went visiting in the village. There were no electric torches, so we took a paraffin lantern, which cast the most exciting shadows as we walked along. The dogs at each house hailed us with loud barking, and when we The Cameron Family outside were ushered inside, there would be quite a the church: scene of industry round the fire. There would be Cameron collection the purr of the spinning wheel, operated by the woman of the house. The men and boys might be teasing the wool (cireadh).” During their seven years on St. Kilda, the Camerons would, no doubt, have built up close friendships with all the families on St. Kilda, many of which would be resumed when both the Camerons, and the last remaining St. Kildans resettled on the mainland. The expected term of office for a missionary was three years when the Camerons moved to St. Kilda, after which they were usually moved on to another church or parish. Reading through old church records, it seems Donald and his family were very happy with their life on St. Kilda – so much Page 6 SIR DONALD CHARLES CAMERON K.C.M.C., K.B.E. TANGANYIKA’S SECOND BRITISH GOVERNOR 1924 - 1931 Contributed by Colin Cameron The British Empire existed for about four centuries and, at its height, governed one quarter of the world’s population. When you browse through these records Scots names appear and often. Throughout these you will find the name “Cameron” in many capacities, and connected with so many different countries. One of these was Donald Charles Cameron who was born on 3 June, 1872 in the then British Guiana. He was the son of a sugar planter of the same name whose forebears came from Lochaber. For his education he returned to Britain and to Dublin. He did not proceed to university, but returned to British Guiana to work. However, in 1904 he joined the Colonial Service, and served in Mauritius and then moved to Southern Nigeria in 1908. There, he worked under Sir Frederick Lugard, and was influenced by his ideas of Indirect Rule. After a successful period there, he was knighted and became the second Governor of the British mandate of Tanganyika in March 1925. Tanganyika had been a German East African Protectorate from 1885 until 1918 and at the end of the WWI the League of Nations had mandated it to Britain. On his arrival in Tanganyika he was faced with two conflicting groups of people. First of all there was the African population, and secondly the group of European settlers and Asians. He recognised the economic benefit of the settlers’ contribution to the economy, and he needed their support. However, in a remarkably liberal and far sighted policy for 1925, he made the following principle the basis of his policy in the country. He said “we are here on behalf of the League of Nations to teach Africans to stand by themselves. When they can do that, we must get out. It will take a long time, yet everything must be based on this principle.” He continued “we must determine from the start the place of the African in the political structure and how he is to achieve it. We must not allow the Page 27
employs a similar technique to distort, then - reveal from looking at it at a certain angle, a human skull in front of two central figures. The portrait of the Prince, along with many other small objects collected by Jacobite sympathisers would have to have been kept well hidden from public view, in case government forces found out that they were supporting the Stuart cause. It was for this reason that when the Jacobite supporters raised a toast to the Prince, they also ran the risk of being caught, by the Redcoats, while in possession of an outlawed item of Jacobite propaganda. However, on removing the column from the board, the distorted image became nothing more than intangible streaks of paint, thus keeping the portrait - and their allegiance to the Prince - a secret. On the closest Saturday to the 19th of August each year, the Glenfinnan Gathering takes place to commemorate the 1745 raising of the Standard alongside the Glenfinnan monument. It is from this location that a colourful procession takes place from the monument to the games field, raising a flag to remember the Jacobite Rising and to officially declare the Gathering open. Shortly after this year's opening, a small group of Camerons moved away from the crowded field and walked up to what is quietly believed to be the real spot on which the Standard was raised. On a mostly mosscovered rock overlooking Loch Shiel, a number of Latin inscriptions record the significant day in 1745 when the Prince stood alongside many clansmen in the hope of changing the course of history. He did, but not as he would have wished. More than two and a half centuries later, a group of Camerons once again gathered on this spot - no doubt thinking of the past - and raised their glasses in a toast to the Prince. Page 26 so that he stayed for almost three terms of office before leaving - and even then they were reluctant to leave. During his time on St Kilda, Donald was well thought of as a genuine preacher and inspired other St. Kildans to follow a religious path in life. As a side note, Donald designed and made the precentor’s table and chair next to the pulpit – replicas of which can be seen in the church today. After leaving the island, Donald and his family moved to Glenelg, where he became an ordained minister. They then moved to serve the parish of Easdale near Lochaline, where they were once again reunited with their old St. Kildan friends when the community resettled to nearby Larachbeg in 1930. Donald finished his ministry in the parish of Shawbost on the Isle of Lewis, retiring in 1944 with his family to the Kyle of Lochalsh. The Cameron daughters both followed in their mother’s footsteps into teaching - Mary teaching piano, and Christina as a primary teacher. The sisters lived out their days in Kyle of Lochalsh. Mary and Christina never married and remained devoted to the church until their deaths in the 1980s. Both ladies were very highly regarded in the local community. In concluding the story of the Cameron family on St. Kilda, I think it is appropriate to share a quote from Donald Cameron himself - The Missionary to St. Kilda. “A Sabbath well spent brings a week of content, and strength for the toils of tomorrow.” Maybe there is something to glean from his words. Could we in 2011 do without our TV’s, computers and phones for one day a week? I think there are things we could still learn from the simplicity and sincerity of the St. Kildans’ now extinct way of life - without getting lost in a sea of nostalgia. Page 7 St. Kilda Church and Bell. Photo: Bill Cameron.
Page 1 and 2: Page 32 CLAN CAMERON ASSOCIATION SC
Page 3 and 4: AGM 2011 The AGM will be held at 2.
Page 5: European to become so entrenched th
Page 9 and 10: The Secret Portrait By Bill Cameron
Page 11 and 12: Bill in the Model T on the summit.
Page 13 and 14: Model T on Ben Nevis - A Century On
Page 15 and 16: and come together to benefit Scotla

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