Alexander Cameron of Lochiel, S.J. () (17 September 1701Forbes-Leith 1909 pp. 340-341 in Achnacarry Castle, Lochaber, Scotland – 19 October 1746 in Gravesend, Kent, England) was a Scottish Catholic priest and outlawed missionary, who became a Jacobite Army captain and military chaplain.
Cameron was born the third son of John Cameron of Lochiel, the 18th chief of Clan Cameron. As an adult, he travelled to Europe employed at the House of Stuart government in exile in Rome as "an honorary gentleman of the bedchamber" to Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, where he converted from the Scottish Episcopal Church to Catholicism.'Cameron Memorandum', MS 20310 in vol. xiv of the National Library of Scotland's Catalogue of Manuscripts acquired since 1925. After ordination as a priest, he was ordered by the Society of Jesus in 1741 to return to Scotland. Living in a cave and aided by two fellow priests, Cameron ran an underground ministry to Clan Chisholm and Clan Fraser of Lovat throughout The Aird and Strathglass for the illegal Catholic Church in Scotland. This provoked a 1744 government crackdown which forced Cameron to flee to his native district in the Rough Bounds of Lochaber. Cameron was assigned as a military chaplain to the regiment of the Jacobite Army commanded by his elder brother, Donald Cameron of Lochiel, the 19th chief of Clan Cameron. Alexander Cameron served in this position for the rest of the Jacobite rising of 1745. Cameron was captured while in hiding at the White Sands of Morar. He died four months later of the conditions of his incarceration aboard Royal Navy Captain John Fergussone's prison hulk H.M.S. Furnace, at anchor off Gravesend.John S. Gibson (1994), Lochiel of the '45: The Jacobite Chief and the Prince, University of Edinburgh Press. p. 142.James Hagerty and Barry Hudd (2024), Defend Us in Battle: Catholic Chaplains in the British Military, Sacristy Press. p. 29.
Family background
Alexander Cameron was the son of John Cameron, tanist of Lochiel, and grandson of Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, who had led the clan during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the Jacobite rising of 1689. Alexander Cameron's mother, Lady Isobel Campbell of Lochnell, came from a cadet branch of Clan Campbell.
Alexander Cameron was the younger brother of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, who would later become the chief of Clan Cameron and lead the Clan's regiment in the 1745 uprising. His other siblings were John Cameron, 1st of Fassiefern (1698–1785), Dr Archibald Cameron (1707–1753), and Colony of Jamaica planter Ewan Cameron.John S. Gibson (1994), Lochiel of the '45: The Jacobite Chief and the Prince, University of Edinburgh Press. p. 33.
His family remained Catholic for several generations after the Scottish Reformation and supported the Episcopalian hierarchy of the Church of Scotland against the Covenanters during the Bishops' Wars.Blundell 1909 p. 146
Early life Alexander Cameron was born on 17 September 1701 at Achnacarry Castle.
After the 1719 uprising failed, his father left Scotland once again for what would become a permanent exile in France, while Cameron's mother, Lady Isobel, remained behind at Achnacarry Castle.Wynne 2011, pp. 10-13 He attended a boarding school at St. Ninian's near Stirling at the expense of his foster-father.Wynne 2011, pp. 14-15 He was later described as multilingual and, in addition to his native Scottish Gaelic language, also spoke and wrote Ecclesiastical Latin, English, French, and Italian.Wynne 2011, p. 31
As a young man, Cameron travelled to the British West Indies to visit the Colony of Jamaica, where the plantations his eldest brother had purchased as an investment were managed by their youngest brother, Ewan Cameron. He had been sent to Jamaica on raise funds for the family, but was unsuccessful and returned to Scotland.Wynne 2011, p. 15 Although the exact regiment has not yet been traced, he then briefly served in the French Royal Army, where he was granted an officer's rank.Wynne 2011, pp. 18-19Blundell 1999 p. 187. Around 1727, Cameron reunited with his exiled father in France.Wynne 2011, p. 16
Conversion to Catholicism and priesthood After this, Alexander Cameron travelled on a Grand Tour throughout Europe. After arriving in the Papal States, Alexander Cameron stayed at the Palazzo Muti in Rome, the home and the government in exile of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, which was said to have an enormous influence upon his future spiritual development.Wynne 2011, pp. 19-23
During his time in Rome, Alexander Cameron converted to Catholicism.Quoted in MacWilliam, 'Strathglass', 96, and O. Blundell, The Catholic Highlands of Scotland, i (London, 1909) 187. A 1730 letter by Alexander Cameron from Boulogne to his brother, Donald Cameron of Lochiel, and which was first published in a 1994 issue of the Innes Review, attributes his conversion solely to the influence of their uncle Allan Cameron, a fellow household servant of the Prince and Princess who had played a great part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Alexander Cameron explained elsewhere that, while in Rome, he had expressed his desire to become a Catholic to the Stuart king and queen in exile. Both Prince James Francis Edward and Princess Maria Clementina were reportedly overjoyed and immediately arranged for their household servant's instruction and reception into the Catholic Church.
Cameron wrote a 48 page memorandum on his conversation which is now preserved at the National Library of Scotland, while the shorter letter that accompanied the memorandum remains in the Clan Cameron museum in Achnacarry Castle.Wynne 2011, pp. 25-26, 29 The value is increased as they are both among the few Lochiel family papers to have "somehow survived the hurried dispersal of papers, plate, and furniture from Achnacarry on the approach of Cumberland's troops after Culloden."
Seminary studies
Alexander Cameron entered the Society of Jesus at Tournai on 30 September 1734 and took his first vows there on 1 October 1736. He then studied theology for four years at Douai and did his tertianship for seven months at Armentières.Wynne 2011, pp. 30-31 Although the precise date remains unknown, it is known that Alexander Cameron was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1740 and, despite the risk of criminal prosecution for violating the Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560, he returned to his native Scotland in June 1741.
The cave in Glen Cannich Alexander Cameron lived with and shared his priestly ministry in Strathglass with two fellow Jesuits whom he had first met as fellow seminarians in Douai. John Farquharson () was a veteran "heather priest" and early collector of local Scottish Gaelic literature. He often travelled disguised in a kilt and tartan hose to evade capture by the priest hunters.Christianity in Strathglass, From the Website for St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Beauly."Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7 1882, pp. 141-146. They were also joined by Charles Farquharson (), Maighstir Iain's brother.MacWilliam, A. S. (1973). A Highland mission: Strathglass, 1671-1777. Innes Review xxiv. pp. 75–102.
Even reports from anti-Catholic sources confirm that Alexander Cameron was very successful as a missionary in the country of Clan Chisholm and Clan Fraser.Blundell 1909, 203. In a 27 April 1743 report from Dingwall () to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, local Presbyterian ministers noted that Cameron, who "hath lately settled in the part of Strathglass that pertains to Lord Lovet, and is employed as a Popish Missionary in that neighbourhood and Glenstrathfarrar, and trafficks with great success... the Presbytery do find that a greater number have been perverted to Popery in these parts within the last few months than thirty years before.Blundell, Catholic Highlands, 187.Wynne 2011, pp. 47-48
The three priests' former residence and secret Mass house, which was located inside a cave still referred to as (,"Rev. John Farquharson, Priest of Strathglass", by Colin Chisholm, The Celtic Magazine, Volume 7, 1882, pp. 141-146. lit. "the hollow of the hard-life"),Malcolm MacLennan (2001), Gaelic Dictionary/Faclair Gàidhlig, Mercat and Acair. Page 182.Collected by Fr. Allan MacDonald (1958, 1972, 1991), Gaelic Words from South Uist and Eriskay – Edited, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Second edition with supplement, published by the Oxford University Press. p. 113. and which was located underneath the cliff of a big boulder at Brae of Craskie, near Beauly () in Glen Cannich (). Odo Blundell considered Colin Chisholm's sources of information to be credible and used his article as a source.Blundell 1909 p. 203 When Cameron's conversion letter was first published in a 1994 issue of Innes Review, Wynne commented about the cave dwelling, "It was in the nature of a summer shieling (), a command centre for monitoring the traditional activities of cattle reivers; as such it combined a civilising role with the building up of a Catholic mission outside Cameron territory in a way which must have reassured Lochiel on both counts." Cameron caught what is believed to have been pneumonia and almost died at this residence due to its coldness, but still refused to retreat to Beaufort Castle because he considered it his priestly duty to minister to the people of Glen Cannich throughout the winter.Blundell, Catholic Highlands, 187-8 On 26 January 1743, Lord Lovat, a practicing Catholic whose changes of allegiance attracted the nickname "the Fox" (), wrote from Beaufort Castle to Lochiel, begging him to order his brother to the castle, where Lovat promised to "furnish him with all the conveniences of Life". Lovat further pleaded with Lochiel, saying, "I beg you to use your endeavours to get an order from his superiors to make him remove to a milder climate; they cannot in honor and conscience refuse it, for he has done already more good to his Church than any ten of his profession has done these ten years past, except your uncle (Bishop Hugh MacDonald) who is so famous for making converts."Blundell 1909 pp. 187-188 Cameron still refused to go. Later, encountering difficulties with the authorities over his religious work, Cameron is then known to have sought and received the protection of his eldest brother at Achnacarry Castle in Lochaber.Wynne 2011, pp. 50-51
Jacobite rising of 1745
Alexander Cameron is believed to have been present when Bishop MacDonald, in violation of strict orders from the Congregation for the Propaganda of the Faith to maintain an apolitical stance, blessed the Jacobite Army standard before its raising at Glenfinnan.John Watts (2004), Hugh MacDonald: Highlander, Jacobite, Bishop, John Donald Press. pp. 112-113.Wynne 2011, pp. 55 Afterwards, he was one of the priests of the Highland district whom the bishop reluctantly assigned as military chaplains with a captain's rank.Wynne 2011, pp. 55-57 According to the muster roll, Donald Cameron of Lochiel's regiment had three chaplains:A. Livingstone et al.. The Muster Roll of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's Army (Edinburgh, 1984), 33. non-jurant and unregistered Presbyterian ministerJohn S. Gibson (1994), Lochiel of the '45: The Jacobite Chief and the Prince, University of Edinburgh Press. p. 73. John Cameron of Fort William, non-jurant Episcopalian rector Duncan Cameron of Fortingall, and Catholic priest Alexander Cameron, "brother to Lochiel". Cameron's other brother, Dr. Archibald Cameron of Lochiel, appears in the muster as "ADC to the prince."Wynne 2011, pp. 57-58 Alexander Cameron's duties would have involved saying Mass, administering the sacraments, and caring on the battlefield for the wounded and dying, rather than fighting during the Jacobite rising of 1745.Wynne 2011, pp. 59-71
On the evening before the Battle of Culloden, Cameron offered the Tridentine Mass on the battlefield for the Catholics of his regiment, while wearing a tartan chasuble.