General Notes

A brief History:

The first chief of the Clan was Donald Dubh he married an heiress of the MacMartins of Letterfinlay and united the tribes that became Clan Cameron.

He is believed to have been born around 1400 and he and his successors were known as captains of Clan Cameron.

In the early 16th century Ewan Macallan united by charter the lands of Locheil into the Barony of Locheil. His father Alan Macdonald Dubh began a feud with the MacKintosh Clan that was to last for 300 years. Ewan was one of the great Cameron chiefs the death of his son Donald was a severe blow to him and he went on a pilgrimage to Rome.

The pope ordered him to build 6 chapels for his sins.

The next great chief was Sir Ewan (1629-1719) who was knighted in 1682 , he took part in the battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 in support of James VII. His grandson known as 'gentle lochiel' supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Forty Five he always felt guilty that he was won over by the Princes charm he died in France in 1748.

After the disaster of Culloden the Cameron lands were forfeited.

The Camerons are descended from the ancient Dalriadic kings of the West Coast. An old Irish manuscript lists their ancestry from Ferchar Fada of the tribe of Lorn, king of Dalraida in 697. The Gaelic name was Camshron. The name is from the Gaelic Cam-shorn, meaning hook nose. It is said that a hooked nose was a characteristic of the old Clan Cameron families. Their principal territory was Locheil and Northern Argyll. The Cameron chiefs were distinguished for their warlike tendencies.They were known as fierce fighters: “For centuries the Camerons held by the sword the lands that had once been Clan Chattan’s heritage in Lochaber. Their ferocious war cry was a promise to feed their enemies’ flesh to dogs: “Sons of the hounds come here and get flesh”. Their territory was bounded to the south by the MacLeans, to the west by the MacDonalds. Most of Cameron country is over one thousand feet in altitude. The highest mountain in Britain, Ben Nevis, is included in this area. The area contains eagles, wild cats, foxes, otters and red deer. The last wolf in Scotland is said to have been killed in 1680 by Ewan Cameron of Lochiel.

The earliest historically recorded Cameron laird was Donald Dubh (or Black Donald) mentioned in the fifteenth century. He was a formidable Lochaber warrier, and is considered to be the eleventh chief of Clan Cameron. One of the best known Cameron chiefs was Sir EwenCameron, in the late 1600s. He was the last chief to hold out against Cromwell, and bit through a Cromwellian officer’s windpipe while locked in mortal combat near Inverlochy. Despite his ferocity, Ewan was said to be “the very model of a Highland gentleman of those times.” He trained his men to be tough and disciplined, and to say that a bed of snow was like a “thrice-driven bed of down”.He saw one of his nephews had rolled together a large snowball as a pillow for his head. Ewan kicked the heap from under his head, saying “What! Are you become a luxurious that you cannot sleep without a pillow?”