Doctor Archibald Cameron 1707

Doctor Archibald Cameron 1707 – 1753<= /b>

THE LAST JACOBITE MARTYR

By Sonia Cameron Jacks

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On 7^th June 1753,= Doctor Archibald Cameron, brother of “The Gentle Lochiel”, was execute= d at Tyburn for his part in the fateful Jacobite Rising of 1745. The following article appeared in the “Highland News” in July 1993, an= d is reproduced here with minor alterations to commemorate both the 250^{th
anniversary of the Doctor’s terrible death and to recall the special
service held in the Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy in 1993, when a replacement memo=
rial
to his name was formally dedicated.}

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How the Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock, beheaded on Tower Hill for their part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745 met their deaths is well known, but perhaps less so is the fate of the last of Prince Charles Edward’s adherents to die for his convictions.=

Doctor Archibald Cameron, a = brother of the Gentle Lochiel, was hanged at Tyburn in June 1753, seven years after= the Battle = of Culloden. Attainted after the Risin= g, he nevertheless continued to make covert visits to Scotland - many in connection= with the infamous “Loch Arkaig gold” - that tardy gift from the Fren= ch which had to be buried and which set clan against clan and finally led to t= he doctor’s betrayal. But on this last, fatal visit in 1752, his mission= was closely bound up with the machinations of the so-called Elibank plot - a Jacobite scheme to restore the exiled House of Stuart, but in this also he = was betrayed, and although Doctor Cameron remained quietly in Scotland, he was captured in the March of 1752. Taken to London and imprisoned in the Tower, he = was condemned to death without trial. The

government of George II pref= erred to carry out the execution of one of the Prince’s most valuable agents on the seven-year-old charge of high treason, rather than risk revealing the intelligence sources supplying them with information regarding Charles Edward’s most secret plans.

So long after Culloden, even= the hardened populace of mid-eighteenth century England felt that this act smac= ked more of vengeance than of justice and in order to avoid trouble, the Jacobi= te doctor’s funeral was carried out secretly, and he was laid to rest in= the Chancel vault of the Savoy Chapel, by The Strand, ‘on the 9th June at= midnight’. A simple inscription on the coffin read that it contained the body of &#= 8216;Dr Archibald Cameron, Suffer’d the 7th June 1753, aged 46’.

Doctor Archie was a kindly, = family man, who was well loved by his own clansmen. A good doctor who made no distinction between Jacobite and Hanoverian, he was widely respected, for, = as an anonymous author wrote at the time, he, ‛ was of so humane a Disposition, that if Credit may be given to general report, when any wounded prisoners were brought to him, he was as assiduous in his care of them as if they had fought in the Cause he espoused; and ‘tis affirmed, that he never refus’d his assistance to any one that asked it, whether Friend= or Foe’.

Dr Cameron met his death with courage and resolution, steadfastly denying the charges brought against him= by an unjust government. He declared that ‘neither the fear of the wo= rst death their malice could invent nor much less their flattering promisesR= 17; could lead him into betraying his friends and in a last letter to his eldest son in France, he repeated that sentiment, saying, ‘I should rather sacrifice my life than save it on dishonourable terms’, and he ad= ded, ‘I thank God I was always easier ashamed than frightened’.

In June 1953, a simple servi= ce of commemoration was held in the Savoy Chapel to mark the bi-centenary of Dr Cameron’s death, and still visible at that time were the words of an inscription, painted on the wall

beneath a plain glass window= . On learning from Lochiel in 1990, that he could no longer see any memorial to = his ancestor there, the writer felt strongly that something should be done, and drew it to the attention of Miss Christian Aikman, Honorary Secretary to the 1745 Association, who saw that here was something eminently suited to the a= ims of the Association. The 1745 Association has, over the years, undertaken mu= ch valuable commemorative work in Scotland, and so, she contacted Mrs Victoria Thorpe, a Council member who lived in London, and asked= her to look into the matter.

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In her enquiries, Mrs Thorpe= was aided by members of the Duchy of Lancaster (who administer the Chapel) and = Sir Donald Cameron of Lochiel and her subsequent tireless work came to fruition= on Monday 7th June 1993 at a beautiful service of commemoration. On that occas= ion, a new and perhaps more enduring memorial in the form of a brass plaque, was dedicated to Doctor Archibald on the 240th anniversary of his execution. Af= ter the words of dedication, a further sentence revealed that the window above = the now-lost inscription had replaced the sculptured tablet which had been erec= ted, with Queen Victoria’s permission, by the Jacobite’s grandson, Charles Hay Cameron, in 1846. This had been lost in the fire which partially destroyed the Chapel in 1864. The beautiful memorial window designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones in 1870, w= as in turn destroyed by enemy action in 1940, leaving only the somewhat worn lettering, and this, it would seem was lost when the Chapel was extensively renovated in 1958.

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The service was conducted by= the Reverend John Robson, Chaplain of the Royal Victorian Order. Among those at= tending were Sir Donald and Lady Cameron of Lochiel and members of their family, members of Clan Cameron, the 1745 Association and the Royal Stuart Society. There was a member of the clan fr= om New Zealand and a number of direct descendants of Dr Archie himself, through his grandson, Charles Hay Cameron. To some of those descendants, this tribute to the expl= oits of their brave ancestor came as a proud revelation.

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Following a superb address b= y David Lumsden of Cushnie, whose own ancestor had fought for Prince Charles, the plaque was dedicated, and wreaths were laid by representatives of Clan Came= ron, the 1745 Association, and the Royal Stuart Society. Pipe Major Brian MacRae= of the Gordon Highlanders and Piper to Her Majesty the Queen played ‘= Lochaber no more’.

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T= he plaque is inset into the floor beside the altar and the wording upon it is similar= to that which was painted under the Burne-Jones window, save for one detail, unaccountably left out formerly: ‘In memory of Dr= = [i]<= /b> Archibald Cameron, brother of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, who, having been attainted after the Battle of Culloden in 1746 escaped to France but return= ing to Scotland was apprehended and executed in 1753. He was buried beneath the altar of this Chapel.’