Archibald Cameron of Locheil
Encyclopedia
High treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; having sexual intercourse with the sovereign's consort, with his eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the...
on June 7, 1753.
Before the uprising
Archibald was born in 1707, the sixth child of John Cameron of LochielJohn Cameron of Lochiel
John Cameron of Lochiel was the 18th chief of Clan Cameron and a significant Jacobite. He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, a fervent Royalist and one of the first to join the rising of 1652 in favour of King Charles II, by whom he was knighted in 1681.He joined the Earl...
, 18th chief of Clan Cameron
Clan Cameron
Clan Cameron is a West Highland Scottish clan, with one main branch Lochiel, and numerous cadet branches. The Clan Cameron lands are in Lochaber and within their lands is the mountain Ben Nevis which is the highest mountain in the British Isles. The chief of the clan is customarily referred to as...
, and Isabel Campbell. His father had participated in the failed 1715 Jacobite uprising, and as a result had become an exile living first in Paris, then Boulogne, and not returning to Scotland until November of 1745. Archibald's elder brother (chief in the absence of their father) was Donald Cameron of Lochiel
Donald Cameron of Lochiel
Donald Cameron of Lochiel , was an influential Highland Clan Chief known for his magnanimous and gallant nature. His support of Charles Edward Stuart was instrumental in the Jacobite Rising of 1745...
(known in Jacobite history as 'the Gentle Lochiel').
Sent to Glasgow University to study law, Archibald rather took to medicine. He entered the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, and then completed his studies in Paris and Leyden in Holland. He subsequently returned to the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, married, and settled in Lochaber
Lochaber
District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of ScotlandLochaber is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland and one of eight former local government districts of the two-tier Highland region...
, fathering seven children.
The '45
When Charles Edward StuartCharles Edward Stuart
Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...
('Bonnie Prince Charlie') first arrived in Scotland, Archibald was dispatched by his brother to Loch nan Uamh to communicate the futility of the enterprise and persuade the Prince to return to France. However, it was Charles who did the persuading, and soon the Camerons joined him in armed revolt. In late August, Archibald first saw action, helping to lead a fairly futile attack on the Ruthven barracks
Ruthven Barracks
Ruthven Barracks near Ruthven, Highland in Scotland are the smallest but best preserved of the four barracks built in 1719 after the 1715 Jacobite rising, set on an old castle mound. It comprises two large three-storey blocks occupying two sides of the enclosure each with two rooms per floor...
. In the campaign that followed, he seems to have served as Lieutenant Colonel in his brother's clan regiment. Archibald was lightly wounded in January 1746 at the Battle of Falkirk
Battle of Falkirk (1746)
During the Second Jacobite Rising, the Battle of Falkirk Muir was the last noteworthy Jacobite success.-Background:...
, but he then had to tend his brother more seriously wounded at the Battle of Culloden
Battle of Culloden
The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the 1745 Jacobite Rising. Taking place on 16 April 1746, the battle pitted the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart against an army commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, loyal to the British government...
(with two broken ankles). Defeat in that battle ended the Jacobite hopes, and in its wake both brothers (and their father) became fugitives hiding from the British Redcoats.
After the burning of the family seat, Achnacarry House
Achnacarry
Achnacarry is a small hamlet, private estate, and a castle in the Lochaber region of Highland, Scotland. It occupies a strategic position on an isthmus between Loch Lochy to the east, and Loch Arkaig to the west....
, the Camerons hid in Badenoch
Badenoch
Badenoch is a traditional district which today forms part of Badenoch and Strathspey, an area of Highland Council, in Scotland, bounded on the north by the Monadhliath Mountains, on the east by the Cairngorms and Braemar, on the south by Atholl and the Grampians, and on the west by Lochaber...
. However, despite the danger, the Prince was determined to meet with Lochiel, and so Archibald was sent to Loch Arkaig
Loch Arkaig
Loch Arkaig is a body of water in Lochaber, Scotland, to the west of the Great Glen. It is approximately 12 miles in length and lies 140 feet above sea level, the maximum depth is some 300 feet....
to convey the Prince to the family hiding place (3 September). The whole party then moved to Ben Alder
Ben Alder
Ben Alder is the highest mountain in the remote area of the Scottish Highlands between Loch Ericht and Glen Spean. The vast summit plateau is home of one of Britain's highest bodies of standing water, Lochan a' Garbh Coire. It is the 25th highest Munro, and due to its remote location, one of the...
, the refuge of Cluny MacPherson
Cluny MacPherson
Cluny Macpherson, MD was a medical doctor and the inventor of the gas mask.During the First World War the German army used poison gas for the first time, against Allied troops at Ypres, France in 1915...
, keeper of the Loch Arkaig treasure
Loch Arkaig treasure
The treasure of Loch Arkaig, sometimes known as the Jacobite Gold, was a large amount of specie provided by Spain to finance the Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745, and rumoured still to be hidden at Loch Arkaig in Lochaber.-Background:...
. Here, on 13 September, word came that French ships were waiting at Loch na Uamh, and on these the whole party escaped on 19 September.
Betrayal and execution
In exile, Archibald remained in Charles' service, travelling with him to Madrid in 1748. He returned to Scotland privately in 1749, and then, in 1753, he was sent back to Scotland again to obtain money from Loch ArkaigLoch Arkaig treasure
The treasure of Loch Arkaig, sometimes known as the Jacobite Gold, was a large amount of specie provided by Spain to finance the Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1745, and rumoured still to be hidden at Loch Arkaig in Lochaber.-Background:...
, and to participate in a desperate plot to assassinate George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
and the royal family. However, whilst staying secretly at Brenachyle by Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine
Loch Katrine is a freshwater loch in the district of Stirling, Scotland. It is roughly 8 miles long by 2/3 of a mile wide and runs the length of Strath Gartney...
, he was betrayed (by MacDonell of Glengarry
Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell
Alestair Ruadh MacDonnell [or MacDonell] , chief of Clan MacDonell of Glengarry, a Scottish Jacobite who has been identified by Andrew Lang as the secret agent "Pickle," who acted as a spy on Prince Charles Edward after 1750.He was the third Lord MacDonell in the Jacobite Peerage.The family were a...
the notorious 'Pickle the spy', and members of his own clan who were this time sickened by his Jacobitism) and arrested. He was charged under the 1746 Act of Attainder for his part in the 1745 uprising. He was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...
then taken to Tower Hill
Tower Hill
Tower Hill is an elevated spot northwest of the Tower of London, just outside the limits of the City of London, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formerly it was part of the Tower Liberty under the direct administrative control of Tower...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and sentenced to death
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
. On 7 June 1753 at Tyburn
Tyburn (stream)
The Tyburn is a stream in London, which runs underground from South Hampstead through St. James's Park to meet the River Thames at Pimlico near Vauxhall Bridge. It is not to be confused with the Tyburn Brook which is a tributary of the River Westbourne....
, he was drawn on a sledge, and hanged for 20 minutes before being cut down and beheaded. His remains were buried in the Savoy chapel. He was, in fact, the last Jacobite to be executed. In his final papers, written from prison, he still protested his loyalty to the Jacobite cause and his episcopalian
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...
principles.
In 1753, John Cameron of Dochanassie wrote a song in Gaelic in commemoration of Archibald's life.
Archibald Cameron is a leading character in D K Broster's 1927 novel, The Gleam in the North, the second in her Jacobite Trilogy.
Sources
- Profile in Am Baile
- Kybert, Susan Maclean "Bonnie Prince Charlie: A biography" Unwin 1988 ISBN
- Mackenzie, B.W. (Lord Amulree), "Dr. Archibald Cameron" in Med Hist. 1971 July; 15(3): 230–240. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1034173
- Scott, Sir WalterWalter ScottSir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
"Redgauntlet" 1824 The pertinent excerpts can be found in the Clan Cameron Archive http://www.lochiel.net/archives/arch128.html