Richard Cameron
Richard Cameron / Religious Figures
- Name : Cameron
- Born : 1648
- Died : 1680
- Category : Religious Figures
- Finest Moment : Declaration of Sanquhar (1680)
Born at Falkland, Fife, the son of a merchant, Cameron attended St Andrews University, returning as schoolmaster at his old school, under an Episcopal curate. He later became chaplain and tutor to Sir William Scott of Harden.
Converted by field preachers, he became a zealous Covenanter, condemning those who accepted the Indulgences. He was exiled in Holland in 1678 as being over-zealous and a threat to the more moderate Covenanters.
Ordained in Rotterdam in 1679, he returned to Scotland and raised an extremist army, the Cameronians. In June 1680 they published the Declaration of Sanquhar, calling for war on Charles II and the exclusion of the Roman Catholic James, Duke of York. They fled to the hills, where they evaded capture for a short, if exciting month. His end came on 22 July, when a troop of dragoons found them at Airds Moss, near Auchinleck. Cameron had a bodyguard of 40 men on foot and 20 horse.
Cameron put up a good fight, but was eventually killed, along with his brother Michael and nine followers. The prayer he had made before the fight became of one the Covenanters' songs: 'Lord, spare the green and take the ripe.
His head and hands were cut off and presented to Edinburgh's Privy Council; they ordered them to be displayed at the Netherbow.