Charles Hay Cameron (11 February 1795 – 8 May 1880) was a British jurist. He was married to the photographer

Julia Margaret Cameron Julia Margaret Cameron (; 11 June 1815 – 26 January 1879) was an English photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century. She is known for her Soft focus, soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian era, ...

Personal life

Cameron was the son of Charles Cameron, governor of the Bahama Islands, by Lady Margaret Hay, daughter of

James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (20 April 1726 – 3 June 1778 (Chester Courant, 16 June 1778)) styled Lord Boyd from 1728 to 1746, was a Scottish nobleman and the son of William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock. After his father was attainted in 1 ...

. His grandfather, Donald Cameron, was the younger son of Dr. Archibald Cameron of Locheil, who had been executed in London in 1753. Charles Hay Cameron erected a monument to his great-grandfather in the

Savoy Chapel The King's Chapel of St John the Baptist in the Precinct of the Savoy, also known as the King's Chapel of the Savoy (called The Queen's Chapel during much of modern history in the reigns of Victoria and Elizabeth II), is a church in the City of ...

. It was damaged by a fire in 1864, when Charles Lloyd Norman, Cameron's son-in-law, replaced it by a painted window. Cameron was intimate with many prominent men of his day, in particular Sir Henry Taylor,

Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

, and

Henry Thoby Prinsep Henry Thoby Prinsep (15 July 1793 – 11 February 1878) was an English official of the Indian Civil Service, and historian of India. In later life he entered politics, and was a significant figure of the cultural circles of London. Early life P ...

. In 1838 he married Julia Margaret Pattle, who became

and would be a successful and highly influential photographer in the 1860s and 1870s. In all, the Camerons raised 11 children, five of their own, five orphaned children of relatives, and an Irish girl named Mary Ryan whom they found begging on Putney Heath and whom Julia used as a model in her photographs. Their daughter Julia (died 1873) was married to Charles Lloyd Norman and mother of diplomat Herman Norman.

Barrister

Cameron was called to the bar at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1830. He was a disciple of

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 4 February Dual dating, 1747/8 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.

5 February 1748 Old Style and New Style dates, N.S. 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

– 6 June 1832) was an English philosopher, jurist, and social reformer regarded as the founder of mo ...

. He was employed upon various commissions. His report upon "judicial establishments and procedure in Ceylon", the result of his participation in a

commission In-Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anot ...

with Colonel Colebrooke, is dated 31 January 1832. He was also a commissioner for inquiring into charities, and prepared a report upon the operation of the

poor law In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...

s in April 1833.

India

By the

Government of India Act 1833 The Government of India Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 85), sometimes called the East India Company Act 1833 or the Charter Act 1833, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, later retitled as the Saint Helena Act 1833. It extended th ...

a fourth member was added to the

Council of India The Council of India (1858 – 1935) was an advisory body to the Secretary of State for India, established in 1858 by the Government of India Act 1858. It was based in London and initially consisted of 15 members. The Council of India was dissolve ...

(previously the

Supreme Council of Bengal The Supreme Council of Bengal, also known as Council of Four, was the highest level of executive government in British India from 1774 to 1833: the period in which the East India Company, a private company, exercised political control of British ...

), and a law commission was constituted, one member of which was to be appointed from England. Cameron was the first member so appointed, and went to India in the beginning of 1835. In 1843 he was appointed fourth member of council, and became president of the Council of Education for Bengal, of which he had been a member from his arrival in India. Cameron took an important part in the work of codification begun by Macaulay, and was Macaulay's chief adviser and co-operator in the preparation of the penal code ( Trevelyan, Macaulay, i. 427. 443, 463). He took a great interest in the introduction of English education among the natives of India. A public meeting of natives was held at

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

on 22 February 1848, upon his departure for England, to thank him for his exertions, and request him to sit for his portrait. His views were explained in an "Address to Parliament on the duties of Great Britain to India in respect of the education of the natives and their official employment, by C. H. Cameron" (1863), in which he advocated a more liberal treatment of the Indian population.

Return to England

Cameron took no further part in active life after his return to England. He lived successively in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

, and at

Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

, in the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

Visit to Sri Lanka

In 1875, he went to

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, where his sons were established. After a visit to England in 1878, he died in Ceylon on 8 May 1880.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Charles Hay 1795 births 1880 deaths 19th-century jurists Members of Lincoln's Inn British people in colonial India Committee members of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge