Down their race-long story the men of the
Cameron clan have borne like a banner their reputation of high courage and
fighting skill. It is fitting that such a clan should have as its chief Sir
Donald Walter Cameron of Lochiel, Knight of the Thistle and twenty-fifth of his
line. Essentially the man is a fighter. Whether on
the battlefield or in the council chamber, he has amply demonstrated that fact.
His days of fighting with cold steel are past. Now his weapons are words
influencing the constitutional government of that place in which his forebears
ruled as kings. The sword did not remain long in the sheath.
When war broke out in 1914, Lochiel at once began to rally men to the colours of
the Cameron Highlanders, the Inverness county regiment. Then in command of the
3rd Battalion, he raised the 5th (Service) Battalion, which he himself commanded
in action. In the famous charge at Loos, when he led his men through a storm of
fire, the Cameron family paid a heavy price, for two of his three brothers died
in that gallant attack. After two years in the mud of Flanders, where his
services earned him the C.M.G., he came home and was for a time commandant of
the North of Scotland military area. The battlefront drew him again.
He returned
to France to command the Lovat Scout Sharpshooters till the end of the War. When the fighting ended he resumed his command
of the 3rd Battalion. In 1920 his services to his country were further
recognised by his appointment as A.D.C. to the King. Such a record more than merits honoured
retirement and "Ease after warre,” but when the dark shadow of invasion
lay across the land in 1940, Lochiel was in action again, commanding the Home
Guard in Inverness-shire. It is not only in the field that Lochiel has
gained distinction. Loyalty to his country and love of the Highlands, hereditary
characteristics of the Camerons, are his in full measure. So, with vigour, sharp
common-sense and fiery oratory as his allies, he carries on an untiring fight
for the good of the Highlands. It is pleasant to record that his services were
recognised and high honour paid him, when in 1934 he ranked among the very few
commoners who have become Knights of the Thistle. His fighting qualities are frequently revealed
in his work as a member of Inverness County Council. His criticism of Government
departments when he feels that the affairs of his beloved Highlands, and of
Inverness-shire in particular, are being neglectfully or ineptly handled is
scathing and pointed. It is largely by his efforts that within recent years
Inverness-shire has obtained many substantial Government grants. Lochiel's connection with Local Government has
been of long duration. He joined Inverness County Council in 1905, soon after
the death of his father. In 1929 he was appointed vice-convener, and six years
later he succeeded the late Lord Lovat as convener.
Then in 1939, in succession
to the late Mackintosh of Mackintosh, Lochiel was appointed Lord-Lieutenant of
Inverness-shire. One learns with some surprise that Lochiel has
no Gaelic. It is one of the keenest
regrets of his life. His parents placed him in the care of Gaelic-speaking
nurses when he was a child. But, as Lochiel confesses, "they improved their
own English to the neglect of my Gaelic." To-day Lochiel lives where his people have always lived, at Achnacarry in Lochaber, on the shore of Loch Arkaig. The family seat is of comparatively modern construction, standing on the site of an old castle burned by the Duke of Cumberland in 1746. Even so, as one looks at this noble house of hewn grey stone, one is conscious of voices dim yet insistent, murmuring the old names and telling the old tales which are the very stuff of Cameron history.
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