Richard Cameron (religious leader)
Encyclopedia
Cameronian
Cameronian was a name given to a section of the Scottish Covenanters who followed the teachings of Richard Cameron, and who were composed principally of those who signed the Sanquhar Declaration in 1680...
s, which ultimately formed the nucleus of the later Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
regiment of the same name, the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The regiment was disbanded in 1968.
Born at Falkland, Fife
Falkland, Fife
Falkland is a town and former royal burgh, formerly known as the Parish of Kilgour c1300AD in Fife, Scotland at the foot of the Lomond Hills.According to the 2008 population estimate, the village has a population of 1,180.- History :...
, he was initially a parish school teacher and then a highly successful field preacher of the strict Presbyterian school, a Covenanter
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
. When Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
demanded that all preachers submit to the Crown's form of church governance (High Church Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
) and accept the King as the head of the church, Cameron left Scotland and spent some years in exile in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
In 1679, he was ordained a Church of Scotland minister at the Scots Kirk in Rotterdam. The Rev. Robert MacWard, who ordained him, reportedly said,
"Richard, the publick standard of the Gospel is fallen in Scotland; and, if I know anything of the mind of the Lord, ye are called to undergo your trials before us, and go home and lift the fallen standard, and display it before the world. But, before you put your hand to it, ye shall go to as many of the field ministers as ye can find, and give them your hearty invitation to go with you; and if they will not go, go your lone, and the Lord will go with you. Behold, all ye beholders! Here is the head of a faithful minister and servant of Jesus Christ, who shall lose the same for his Master's interest; and it shall be set up before sun and moon in the public view of the world."
He returned to Scotland in 1680 and along with Donald Cargill
Donald Cargill
Donald Cargill was a Scottish Covenanter, working to uphold the National Covenants of 1638 and 1643 to establish and defend Presbyterianism....
, David Hackston
David Hackston
David Hackston or Halkerstone , was a covenanter.Hackston was sprung from the Hackstons or Halkerstones of Rathillet, in the parish of Kilmany, Fifeshire 'It is not known whether he was born at the family seat. The records of the kirk-session do no go back so far'...
and others issued the Sanquhar Declaration
Sanquhar Declaration
The Sanquhar Declaration is a speech read by Covenanter, Richard Cameron, accompanied by twenty armed men in the public square of Sanquhar, Scotland, in 1680, disavowing allegiance to Charles II and the government of Scotland, in the name of "true Protestant and Presbyterian interest", opposition...
, calling for war against King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, and the exclusion of the King's brother, James, Duke of York, from the succession. Cameron was killed later the same year in a skirmish with dragoons at Airds Moss
Airds Moss
Airds Moss is a moor in East Ayrshire, between the rivers Ayr and Lugar.Its blanket bogs have caused it to be designated as a Special Area of Conservation....
near Cumnock during a government attempt to suppress the Covenanters in the South West of Scotland. His head and hands were severed from his body and taken to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
where they were affixed to the Netherbow Port. This period was later given the title of "The Killing Time
The Killing Time
thumb|240px|[[Margaret Wilson |Margaret Wilson]], one of the 'Wigtown Martyrs', executed by drowning in the incoming tide of the Solway Firth ....
" because hundreds, if not thousands of Presbyterians were persecuted and martyred for holding Cameronian views.
In 1689 after the accession of William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
, who adopted religious toleration, Cameron's followers were pardoned, and incorporated into the British Army as the Cameronian regiment which defeated Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
forces at the Battle of Dunkeld
Battle of Dunkeld
The Battle of Dunkeld was fought between Jacobite clans supporting the deposed king James VII of Scotland and a government regiment of covenanters supporting William of Orange, King of Scotland, in the streets around Dunkeld Cathedral, Dunkeld, Scotland, on 21 August 1689 and formed part of the...
in the same year, and was subsequently renamed the 26th (The Cameronian) Regiment of Foot.
Further reading
- Munro, Neil. "Lion of the Covenant." In Ayrshire Idylls. Edinburgh: FrontList Books, 2004. 19–32. ISBN 1-84350-079-5 First published in 1912, this is a short story based on the killing of Richard Cameron by Royalist troops in 1680.
- Grant, Maurice. The Lion of the Covenant. Darlington, Evangelical Press, 1997. 335 pages. ISBN 0-85234-395-7 A modern biography of Richard Cameron by a Scottish Presbyterian.