General Sir Duncan Alexander Cameron, (20 May 18088 June 1888) was a British Army officer who fought in the Crimean War and part of the New Zealand Wars. He was later a governor of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Born into a family with a military tradition, Cameron joined the British Army in 1825. Commissioned into the 42nd Regiment of Foot, he had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel by 1854 and was a battalion commander. He served in the Crimean War and fought in the Battle of Alma. Afterwards, he assumed command of the Highland Brigade and led it through the Battle of Balaclava and the Siege of Sevastopol. He finished the war as a temporary major-general and received several honours for his service. He then held a series of educational and advisory posts with the British Army before becoming Commander-in-Chief, Scotland in 1860.
The following year, Cameron was appointed commander of British forces in New Zealand, which was dealing with the ongoing New Zealand Wars. At the time, the Colonial Government was engaged in a conflict with the Māori in the Taranaki region. However, by the time Cameron arrived in the Taranaki, a truce had been arranged. Two years later, he suppressed a further outbreak of fighting in the area and then led the invasion of the Waikato to deal with the King Movement, a Māori resistance that threatened British sovereignty in the country. He commanded a series of mostly successful engagements with the Kingites, followers of the King Movement, but none were decisive. By March 1864, he had advanced in the Waikato heartland and had pushed the Kingites into the King Country. At Gate Pā in April 1864, his forces suffered a major defeat. By this stage, Cameron was becoming disillusioned with the conduct of the war. Against his wishes, in early 1865 he commanded a campaign against Māori in the southern Taranaki. Coming under political pressure to wage a war he felt was inappropriate, he tendered his resignation and left New Zealand in August 1865.
In 1868, Cameron was made a lieutenant-general and was appointed as governor of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He remained in this post until 1875, at which time he retired from military service with the rank of general and as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. He died in 1888 at the age of 80.
Early life
Born on 20 May 1808, Duncan Cameron was a son of Sir John Cameron and Lady Cameron. His mother was from Guernsey and was the niece of Admiral James Saumarez. His father, who retired with the rank of lieutenant-general, was an officer in the British Army who was serving in the Peninsular War and was Scottish. A younger brother, John Cameron, went on to become a lieutenant-general in the British Army, serving in the Royal Engineers. Duncan Cameron most likely was educated at Eton College, as was his father before him. to captain in 1833, to major in 1839, and lieutenant-colonel in 1843, at which time he was commanding a battalion of the regiment on Malta. and commanded his battalion during the Battle of Alma in September 1854. Shortly afterwards he was appointed commander of the Highland Brigade, and led it through the subsequent Battle of Balaclava and the Siege of Sevastopol. Receiving a promotion to temporary major-general in November 1855, he was the recipient of several awards as a result of his service in the Crimea; appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and received the Order of the Medjidie, Third Class, in 1858.
After the war in Crimea, Cameron became involved in education of British Army personnel. He was appointed to the Council for Army Education in 1857 as its vice president and carried out reforms of both the Royal Military College and the Staff College at Sandhurst. By this stage of his career, Cameron was well regarded by his contemporaries.
New Zealand
In January 1861, Cameron was appointed commander of British forces in New Zealand, In 1868, his temporary rank of lieutenant-general was made substantive, and he was appointed Commissioner "to enquire into the present state of Military Education in this country". The same year, he was appointed as Governor of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. On 10 September 1873, he married Louisa Flora, the fourth daughter of Andrew Maclean, the deputy inspector-general of the Royal Military College. In his later years, he had to deal with published criticism of his conduct of the campaigns in New Zealand. However, these would typically downplay the fighting qualities and tactics of the Kingites. He was also involved in defending himself from a particularly aggrieved dispute with a relative of an officer killed at the Battle of Rangiriri. In his final years, his health deteriorated and he died at Kidbrook, in Kent, on 7 June 1888. Survived only by his wife as the couple had no children, he was buried at Brompton Cemetery in London.