Richard Cameron

Scottish religious leader

• Born: c. 1648
• Birthplace: Falkland, Fife, Scotland
• Died: July 22, 1680
• Place of death: Airds Moss (or Ayrsmoss), near Auchinleck, Ayrshire, Scotland

Although Cameron prepared for ordination in the Church of Scotland, he became a zealous Covenanter during the Restoration period in Britain. He was killed during a revolt against the established order, but his followers, the Cameronians, later established the Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Early Life

Virtually nothing is known of Richard Cameron’s early life, but the world in which young Richard came of age was one of religious zealotry and war. In 1637, Charles I of England demanded that the Scottish Kirk use a new Book of Canons in all worship services. Scottish religious leaders declared the new liturgy to be “popish” and proposed a “Covenant” that bound Scots together in opposition to the monarch’s religion. This Covenant also purged the Kirk of the bishops that had been imposed upon Scottish Presbyterians by the episcopalian James I and established a theocratic government. Charles called upon Parliament to suppress the Scots, but disagreements between the king and Parliament ultimately led to the First English Civil War in 1642.

The Scots initially sided with Parliament against the king, but they joined the Royalist side in 1647. The Parliamentary army of Oliver Cromwell crushed the Scottish forces, however, and Scotland was placed under martial law. Cromwell’s death in 1658 led to the Restoration of the monarchy , and Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660. The new government restored the official church and implemented the Clarendon Code , a series of laws that virtually disestablished Puritans and Presbyterians. The Act of Uniformity (1661) required all clergy and schoolmasters to accept the Book of Common Prayer. Those who refused to accept the Act of Uniformity were named Nonconformists, and the Conventicle Act (1664) prohibited them from having public religious meetings. Parliament did issue an Act of Indulgence (1667) permitting clergy to continue privately as Nonconformists if an outward appearance of conformity were retained. These religious decisions, which deeply divided the Scottish nation, provided the backdrop for Richard Cameron’s revolutionary activities.

Cameron himself was born about 1648 to Allan Cameron, a general merchant in Falkland, and his wife, Margaret Paterson. He had at least two younger brothers, Michael and Alexander. In 1662, Richard Cameron’s father borrowed œ40 against his home so that his son could attend the University of St. Andrews. “Ricardus Camero[n]” was graduated in July, 1665, with a master of arts degree, and he likely pursued further theological studies until at least 1667. His first position was that of parish schoolmaster at Falkland, where he also served as precentor, or choir director, in the parish church.

At this time, in defiance of the Conventicle Act, public “field meetings” of devout Presbyterians were being held throughout Fifeshire. It is probable that Richard attended some of these meetings and was profoundly influenced by the religious fervor of the preachers. It is also likely that he then refused to accept either the Act of Uniformity or an indulgence, as church records indicate that the positions held by Cameron were vacant in 1674.

Cameron moved to Borthwick, near Edinburgh, where he served as chaplain to Lady Cavers and later as chaplain to the family of Sir William Scott. These private positions allowed him to follow his religious convictions in secret, but at some point in 1677, Cameron publicly refused to attend the local church. He resigned his position and began his public career.

Life’s Work

By 1677, Cameron perceived his life’s mission to be crusading against two major trends of seventeenth century Britain: religious conformity and political absolutism. A devout Covenanter, he believed that the religious principles for which Scots had died were being compromised by those who were interested only in political gain. He could not agree to a conciliatory policy with the official religious establishment and opposed any action that returned the Church of Scotland to pre-Covenant status. Cameron believed that the restoration of episcopacy (bishops), accomplished at the order of Charles II, was sinful, as were the offering and accepting of indulgences. Opposition to these policies was therefore the only course he could take to ensure his own personal salvation. Just as important to Cameron was his belief that no church could have a secular ruler as head. To him, caesaropapism was anathema, and minions of the king, be they government agents, bishops, or clergy, were profane and tyrannical. His Covenanter conscience required that he not submit to what, to him, was clearly false doctrine.

It was not an age of toleration, and those who refused to conform to the official state church were subject to ruthless persecution by the government. Approximately one-fourth of the ministers in Scotland were deprived of their positions because of their refusal to accept the Act of Uniformity. Their replacements were generally inadequate, resulting in widespread disaffection for the established church. The government crushed one uprising in November, 1666, and many malcontents were hanged or banished to Barbados. In an effort at conciliation, the government offered indulgences, but most of the deprived ministers refused them, preferring instead to preach in the fields. Cameron was but one of many who became a field preacher, although he was one of the most eloquent. Cameron’s passionate delivery often stirred strong emotions in the large crowds to which he spoke. Unfortunately, his strident denunciations of those who accepted indulgences or any who worked with the government alienated him from the majority of Presbyterians.

The brutal murder on May 3, 1679, of James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews and leader of the conciliation wing of Presbyterianism, precipitated a revolution against the government. The rebels issued the Rutherglen Declaration, which declared invalid any religious legislation enacted by the government since the Covenant of 1637. The rebellion was broken at Bothwell Bridge on June 22, but the victorious duke of Monmouth was deliberately generous to the rebels. He hoped to bring peace by allowing the rival religious groups to focus on their differences rather than by providing a unifying force in the form of a vindictive government.

Cameron himself was absent from Scotland during these events, having gone to Holland in late 1678 to meet with other refugees from the government’s religious policy. While there, he was ordained by Separatist (those who desired a separation of church and state) ordained ministers in the old Scots Church in Rotterdam. Upon his return to Scotland in 1680, he found the Covenanter movement in disarray and the countryside under close watch by the government.

Undismayed, Cameron and his friends, including Donald Cargill, Thomas Douglas, and David Hackston, acted against the government. The Queensferry Paper, later called the Cameron’s Covenant, bound subscribers to strict religious beliefs regarding doctrine, worship, and church government. On June 22, 1680, Cameron and twenty armed men marched to the market cross at Sanquhar and called for war against Charles II as monarch and for the exclusion of his brother James, duke of York, from the succession to the throne. The Sanquhar Declaration announced Cameron’s rebellion against the Crown, but it was hardly a considerable threat to the government. It could not be ignored, however, and a price of five thousand merks was placed on Cameron’s head. An additional bounty of three thousand merks was offered for the head of either Cargill or Douglas.

Cameron continued preaching in the fields south of Glasgow, exhorting his listeners to act against the government. On July 22, a Royalist troop caught his party at Airds Moss in Ayrshire. Before the short fight, Cameron is reputed to have prayed, “Lord spare the green and take the ripe.” Cameron, his brother Michael, and most of his men were either killed in the combat that followed or captured and executed at the site. Cameron’s head and hands were cut off and displayed in Edinburgh; the captured Hackston was tried and publicly executed in Edinburgh in much the same fashion as William Wallace had been almost three centuries earlier.

Significance

The life’s work of Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, spanned only three short years and touched but few people during that time. His ministry is sparsely documented, for he left no written material of his own, and what written accounts exist are generally antithetical to his cause. He died a traitor to the Crown, and his cause was understood by few Presbyterians of his day. He was, to many, an uncompromising fanatic who challenged church and state at the same time. Yet this very unwillingness to compromise guaranteed his place in history.

Five years after Cameron’s execution, Charles II died, leaving his Catholic brother James II as monarch. Within three years, James alienated significant elements within Britain, and in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, he was replaced by William III of Orange and Mary II Stuart. The Revolution Settlement that followed ended forever the concept of absolutism in Britain by establishing a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances within the government. A religious settlement separated church and state and provided for toleration of all religions except Catholicism. In some ways, the Sanquhar Declaration foreshadowed the political and religious events that took place within a decade, although it seems doubtful that Cameron would have agreed with some of the ensuing compromises.

Cameron’s legacy may also be seen in two other areas: Scottish nationalism and Presbyterianism. In the nineteenth century, Scottish nationalists recalled Cameron and his tiny band as saints slaughtered for their religious beliefs. Cameron became a folk hero, portrayed as a defender of freedom against a ruthless government, as well as a Scot who defied the English. Again, it is doubtful that Cameron would have accepted such a role, for he was as intolerant as those who dispatched him. It is also significant that Cameron is considered but a footnote in modern Scottish historiography.

Cameron’s religious bequest is perhaps more substantive than his political legacy, although much of the work was done by others. Cameronians were the most uncompromising and fundamentalist Presbyterians in Scotland. Later, under the leadership of John Macmillan, the Reformed Presbytery was established in 1743 and continued as a separate conservative voice in religious affairs until the late nineteenth century. Scottish Reformed Presbyterians were ultimately absorbed into a reunited Church of Scotland in 1929. Emigrant Reformed Presbyterians, particularly those in the American South, refused to participate in the civil affairs of an uncovenanted state. The religious descendants of Cameron continue as small, fundamentalist synods.

Bibliography

Cowan, Ian B. The Scottish Covenanters, 1660-1688. London: Victor Gollancz, 1976. Focuses on religious issues in Scotland following the restoration of Charles II. Cowan’s primary emphasis is on those Scottish Presbyterians who refused to accept the established church, but background information regarding the controversies is included.

Foster, Walter Roland. Bishop and Presbytery: The Church of Scotland, 1661-1688. London: Spottiswoode, Ballantyne, 1958. Primarily a survey of the religious issues faced by the Kirk of Scotland in the Restoration era. Cameron’s “radical” movement is dismissed with the observation that it attracted little support from religious moderates.

Henderson, Thomas Finlayson. “Richard Cameron.” In Dictionary of National Biography, edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee. London: Oxford University Press, 1967. This reference work of significant British historic personages provides basic information on Cameron and is the least biased source of biographical data.

Herkless, John. Richard Cameron. Famous Scots Series. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier, 1896. The only biography of Cameron, the work suffers from the Scottish nationalistic attitude of the author. Cameron is viewed more as a martyr for Scottish freedom than as a religious zealot, but Herkless provides significant information and sources regarding the life of Cameron.

Howie, John. The Scots Worthies. Edited by W. H. Carslaw. Edinburgh, Scotland: Oliphant, Anderson, and Ferrier, 1870. Provides hagiographic biographies of Cameron, Cargill, and Hackston. Important only for understanding the evolution of Scottish nationalism.

Orr, Brian J. As God Is My Witness: The Presbyterian Kirk, the Covenanters, and the Ulster Scots. Bowie, Md.: Heritage, 2002. A history of the Scottish Covenanters, including biographies of Cameron and other people who were pivotal in the conflict between Scottish church and English crown.

Paterson, Raymond Campbell. A Land Afflicted: Scotland and the Covenanter Wars, 1638-1690. Edinburgh, Scotland: J. Donald, 1998. A study of religious dissent in seventeenth century Scotland.

Smellie, Alexander. Men of the Covenant: The Story of the Scottish Church in the Years of the Persecution. London: Billing and Sons, 1975. A reprint of an edition originally published in 1903. Surveys the period 1661-1688 from the perspective of those who opposed Charles II. Cameron is portrayed as a martyr to the Covenant.

Stevenson, David. Union, Revolution, and Religion in Seventeenth Century Scotland. Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum, 1997. Focuses on the Covenanters and their attempts to create a Scottish regime strong enough to be granted autonomy from England.

Stewart, Duncan. The Covenanters of Teviotdale and Neighbouring Districts. Edited by John Smith. Galashiels, Scotland: A. Walker & Son, 1908. Cameron’s career in southeastern Scotland is surveyed in a brief synopsis of his life. Stewart, a Presbyterian minister, views Cameron as heroic, willing to lose everything for his conscience.