General Sir William Gordon Cameron ( Chinese translated Name: 金馬倫; 16 October 1827 – 2 March 1913) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.

Military career

William Gordon Cameron was commissioned into the

42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot was a Scottish infantry regiment in the British Army also known as the Black Watch. Originally titled Crawford's Highlanders or the Highland Regiment and numbered 43rd in the line, in 1748, on the disband ...

in 1844.DNW Medal Auction, 30 June 1994. Retrieved 16 February 2020
/ref> He transferred to the Grenadier Guards in 1847. In 1854 he was deployed to the Crimean War and took part in the Battle of Alma. He was appointed

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of 3rd Regiment of the British German Legion in 1855. In 1867 he became

of 1st Battalion 4th King's Own Royal Regiment and led the capture of

Magdala Magdala (Aramaic: מגדלא, ''Magdala'', meaning "tower"; Hebrew: , ''Migdal''; ar, المجدل, ''al-Majdal'') was an ancient Jewish city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, north of Tiberias. In the Babylonian Talmud it is known as Magda ...

during the British Expedition to Abyssinia. In 1875, he became commander of a brigade at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

and in 1875 of a brigade at Aldershot. In April 1881 he was appointed General Officer Commanding Northern District. Then in 1884 he became Commander of British Troops in China, Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements. He governed Hong Kong in a period between April 1887 to October 1887. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 5th (West Middlesex) Middlesex Rifle Volunteer Corps in 1880. From January 1891 to December 1892 and then again in May to July 1894 he was Administrator of the Cape Colony. He retired in 1895.

Family

General Sir William Gordon Cameron was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Gordon Cameron J.P. (1790-1856) and his wife Caroline née Edwards (1801-1872), and the elder brother of Colonel

Aylmer Cameron Colonel Aylmer Spicer Cameron, (12 August 1833 – 10 June 1909), born in Perth, was a British soldier and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to Bri ...

VC, who won the Victoria Cross in 1858 during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. He married Helen Colebrooke Mary, daughter of General Sir John Hunter Littler, GCB on 20 January 1857 in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Buckfastleigh, Devon, England.

Memory

Several places in Hong Kong were named after Cameron: Cameron Road and Cameron Lane in Tsim Sha Tsui,

Kowloon Kowloon () is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. With a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006, it is the most populous area in Hong Kong, compared with Hong Kong Island and t ...

, as well as Mount Cameron and Mount Cameron Road.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, William Gordon 1827 births 1913 deaths Governors of Hong Kong Commanders of Hong Kong British Army generals Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 42nd Regiment of Foot officers Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military personnel of the Abyssinian War