General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir William Gordon Cameron ( Chinese translated Name: 金馬倫; 16 October 1827 – 2 March 1913) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 disban ...

in 1844.DNW Medal Auction, 30 June 1994. Retrieved 16 February 2020
/ref> He transferred to the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

in 1847. In 1854 he was deployed to the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

and took part in the

Battle of Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septem ...

. He was appointed Commanding Officer of 3rd Regiment of the

British German Legion The British German Legion (or Anglo-German Legion) was a group of German soldiers recruited to fight for Britain in the Crimean War. It is not to be confused with the King's German Legion, which was active during the Napoleonic Wars. Great Britai ...

in 1855. In 1867 he became Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion 4th

King's Own Royal Regiment The King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army. It served under various titles and fought in many wars and conflicts, including both the First and the Second World Wars, from 1680 to 1959. In 1959, the ...

and led the capture of Magdala during the

British Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, ...

. In 1875, he became commander of a

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. B ...

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 Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

. 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 Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

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 The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

. 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 VC, who won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

in 1858 during the Indian Mutiny. 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 Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway ( A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery ...

, Devon, England.

Memory

Several places in Hong Kong were named after Cameron:

Cameron Road Cameron Road () is a street in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Location The west end of Cameron Road is Nathan Road while the east end is Chatham Road South, and it is almost parallel to Granville Road and Mody Road. Name Cameron Road is ...

and Cameron Lane in

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsi ...

, Kowloon, 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