![Three: Major G.E.E.G. Cameron, Gordon Highlanders, India General Service 1895-1902, three clasps, Relief of Chitral 1895, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Tirah 1897-98 [Last two clasps attached by wire rivets] (Lieut., 1st Bn. Gord. Highrs.); Queen's South Africa, four clasps, Cape Colony, Paardeberg, Driefontein, Johannesburg (Major, Gordon Highrs.), rank officially corrected; Khedive's Sudan 1896-1908, one clasp, Sudan 1899 (Capt., Gordon Hdrs.), slight contact wear and edge bruising, generally very fine and better (3)](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/SKS/2001_SKS_01281_0607_000(032526).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Sold with recipient's silver hip-flask (Hallmarks for London, 1898), with contemporary stipple engraved inscription, 'E.G.C. From O.S.C., 1899', with severe damage caused by a bullet strike
Major George Ewen Eyre Gordon Cameron was born in July 1871, the son of General Sir William Cameron, G.C.B., and his wife Helen, the daughter of General Sir John Littler, G.C.B. The lineage of the family, the Camerons of Inch, may be traced back to William James Cameron, an Episcopalian Minister of Inch, Wigtownshire, who fled the Covenanters in 1692.
Young George was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders as a 2nd Lieutenant in February 1892, joined the 1st Battalion out in India later that year, and was advanced to Lieutenant in April 1895. Subsequently engaged in the operations of the Chitral Relief Field Force in 1895, and with the Tirah Field Force on the Punjab Frontier between 1897-98, he was severely wounded by a gunshot while employed with a foraging party at Maidan:
'On 10 November [1897], Lieutenant G.E.E.G. Cameron and two Rank and File were wounded. The return of these foraging parties was less dignified than dangerous, finding themselves to go, they went quickly, and on arrival in the camp, the General, who had been anxiously awaiting their retreat, remarked to the unabashed Subaltern in charge, "There is one good thing you possess, at all events, young man - you can show a clean pair of heels" '.
Cameron was Mentioned in Despatches by Sir William Lockhart for his services at the storming of the Dargai Heights in the previous month (London Gazette 3.1.1898 refers), and was seconded to the Egyptian Army in March 1899. Participating in the Sudan operations of the same year, he gained advancement to Captain and very probably a unique award of the Khedive's Sudan Medal and 'Sudan 1899' clasp to a Gordon Highlander.
Returning to his Regiment on the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa, Cameron was briefly employed as a Special Service Officer before participating in the advance on Kimberley and in the action at Enslin, in addition to the engagements at Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Houtnek (Thoba Mountain), Vet River and Zand River. Afterwards he served in the Transvaal and was involved in the heavy fighting around Johannesburg, being dangerously wounded on 29.5.1900 at Doornkop - Cameron was carrying the above described hip-flask in his tunic at the time, the deflected bullet shattering his hip.
Mentioned in Despatches by Earl Roberts (London Gazette 10.9.1901 refers), and awarded the Brevet of Major in November of the same year, very probably as a result of his gallantry at Doornkop, Cameron took up appointment as Adjutant at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, an office he occupied from 1903-06. But the gallant Major never fully recovered from his terrible wound and died at his residence, Nea House, Christchurch, Hampshire in August 1908. Among those present at his funeral were two cousins, Captain O.S. Cameron, R.N., and Captain O.S. Cameron, Royal Horse Artillery, one of whom must have presented him with the silver-hip flask.
Major George Ewen Eyre Gordon Cameron was born in July 1871, the son of General Sir William Cameron, G.C.B., and his wife Helen, the daughter of General Sir John Littler, G.C.B. The lineage of the family, the Camerons of Inch, may be traced back to William James Cameron, an Episcopalian Minister of Inch, Wigtownshire, who fled the Covenanters in 1692.
Young George was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders as a 2nd Lieutenant in February 1892, joined the 1st Battalion out in India later that year, and was advanced to Lieutenant in April 1895. Subsequently engaged in the operations of the Chitral Relief Field Force in 1895, and with the Tirah Field Force on the Punjab Frontier between 1897-98, he was severely wounded by a gunshot while employed with a foraging party at Maidan:
'On 10 November [1897], Lieutenant G.E.E.G. Cameron and two Rank and File were wounded. The return of these foraging parties was less dignified than dangerous, finding themselves to go, they went quickly, and on arrival in the camp, the General, who had been anxiously awaiting their retreat, remarked to the unabashed Subaltern in charge, "There is one good thing you possess, at all events, young man - you can show a clean pair of heels" '.
Cameron was Mentioned in Despatches by Sir William Lockhart for his services at the storming of the Dargai Heights in the previous month (London Gazette 3.1.1898 refers), and was seconded to the Egyptian Army in March 1899. Participating in the Sudan operations of the same year, he gained advancement to Captain and very probably a unique award of the Khedive's Sudan Medal and 'Sudan 1899' clasp to a Gordon Highlander.
Returning to his Regiment on the outbreak of hostilities in South Africa, Cameron was briefly employed as a Special Service Officer before participating in the advance on Kimberley and in the action at Enslin, in addition to the engagements at Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Houtnek (Thoba Mountain), Vet River and Zand River. Afterwards he served in the Transvaal and was involved in the heavy fighting around Johannesburg, being dangerously wounded on 29.5.1900 at Doornkop - Cameron was carrying the above described hip-flask in his tunic at the time, the deflected bullet shattering his hip.
Mentioned in Despatches by Earl Roberts (London Gazette 10.9.1901 refers), and awarded the Brevet of Major in November of the same year, very probably as a result of his gallantry at Doornkop, Cameron took up appointment as Adjutant at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, an office he occupied from 1903-06. But the gallant Major never fully recovered from his terrible wound and died at his residence, Nea House, Christchurch, Hampshire in August 1908. Among those present at his funeral were two cousins, Captain O.S. Cameron, R.N., and Captain O.S. Cameron, Royal Horse Artillery, one of whom must have presented him with the silver-hip flask.