An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Gaidheal > Volumes 44--45, January 1949--December 1950

The Late Hr. John Cameron
IT is with great regret that we record the
death of Dr. John Cameron, J.P., LL.B.,
on 11th August. His passing has left a blank
in many spheres of public service.
John Cameron was born in the Isle of Mull
67 years ago, and Mull and Iona held his
affection all his life, his last visit being paid
shortly before his death. His ancestors, how¬
ever, had come from Lochaber, and that
district also held his regard. He was
educated at Hutcheson’s Grammar School and
Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A.
and LL.B. As a Solicitor in Glasgow he built
up an extensive legal practice and was senior
partner in the firm of Kennedy, Cameron and
Allan.
Dr. Cameron’s interests and activities were
manifold and various. He was President of
the Clan Cameron Association (1928-32) and
the Glasgow Highland Society; Hon. Secret¬
ary of the Highlanders’ Institute, the Glasgow
Celtic Society, the Glasgow Lochaber Society,
and the Scottish Section of the Pan-Celtic
Congress. For many years he was Hon.
Secretary (and also a term as President) of
the Glasgow University Ossianic Club, and
was particularly concerned with the efforts of
that Club to have a Chair of Celtic established
at Glasgow University. For many years also
he had been Clerk to the Governors of the
Catherine McCaig Trust and Clerk to the
Governors of the Murchison of Taradale Trust.
For a long period a member of the Executive
Council of An Comunn Gaidhealach, Dr.
Cameron was Convener of the Finance Com¬
mittee and Vice-President (1943-46). From
1946 to 1949 he held the office of President
with distinction, and his. Gaelic and English
orations at the National Mods during his term
of office were marked by felicity of language,
knowledge of history, and a thorough apprecia¬
tion of the difficulties and opportunities of An
Comunn in these days.
As a lawyer and leading citizen of Glasgow
Dr. Cameron served on many committees and
public bodies. As representative of the
Glasgow Faculty of Procurators he was a
Governor of St. Mungo’s College. He was a
member of council of the Glasgow Art Club,
the Scottish Artists’ Benevolent Association,
the Royal Art Institute, and the Stair Society,
and was also Vice-Chairman of Committee of
the Agricultural Wages Board for Lanark,
Renfrew, Bute, Perth, etc., and held other
appointments as well.
Onerous and varied though his activities
were, future generations will remember him
especially as a scholar whose researches and
writings have enriched and enlarged his chosen
field of study—Scots and Celtic law. His
publications include a contribution on Celtic
Law to “ An Introductory Survey of the
Sources and Literature of Scots. Law ” (the
first publication of the Stair Society, 1936),
“ Law in the Glens ” in “ The Highlands and
the Highlanders ” (1938), and “ The Gaelic
Notitiae in the Book of Deer” in the
Juridical Review, Vol. LI, No. 2 (1939).
His most important work, however, was
‘‘ Celtic Law : the ‘ Senchus Mor ’ and ‘ The
Book of Aicill,’ and the Traces of an Early
Gaelic System of Law in Scotland” (1937).
This notable book, for which he received the
degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Glasgow
University, won high commendation from
authoritative reviewers, one of whom wrote :
‘‘ It is notorious that the Law of Scotland has
not yet found its historian; but Dr. Cameron,
in elucidating one of the most obscure and
difficult parts of that history, has laid under a
deep debt of gratitude all who are interested
in Scottish legal history.”
Only last year the Stair Society published
” The Judiciary Records of Argyll and the
Isles 1664-1705,” transcribed and edited, with
an introduction, by Dr. Cameron. This book
115