{{Short description|British Army officer (1873–1955)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Major-General |name=Neville Cameron |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|CMG}} |birth_date=9 October 1873 |birth_place= Southsea, Hampshire, England<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://clan-cameron.org.au/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I78901&tree=cameron1|title=Major General Neville John Gordon Cameron, CB, CMG b. 9 October 1873 Southsea, Hampshire d. 5 December 1955|website=clan-cameron.org.au}}</ref> |death_date=5 December 1955 (aged 82) |death_place= |image= |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= United Kingdom |service_years= 1892−1931 |service_number= 21851 |rank= Major-General |branch= British Army |current position= |commands=103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade<br />151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade<br />49th (West Riding) Division<br />16th Infantry Brigade<br />12th Infantry Brigade<br />49th (West Riding) Infantry Division |unit=Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders |battles=Second Boer War<br />First World War |awards=Companion of the Order of the Bath<br />Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George |other_work= }} Major-General '''Neville John Gordon Cameron''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|CMG}} (9 October 1873 – 5 December 1955) was a British Army officer who served with distinction in many conflicts throughout his almost forty years of military service, most notably during the First World War, serving successively as a staff officer and a brigade and division commander.{{sfn|Davies|1997|p=123}}
==Military career== Born in Southsea, Hampshire,<ref name="auto"/> the third son of General Sir William Gordon Cameron and educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuHIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA214|title=The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland|first= Edward|last= Walford|date=January 1860}}</ref> Cameron was commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in December 1892.{{sfn|Davies|1997|p=123}}
He saw action in the Sudan in 1898 during the Mahdist War.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27009|page=5730|date=30 September 1898}}</ref> He was present at the Battle of Atbara and the Siege of Khartoum He then served in the Second Boer War, also known as the South African War, from 1900 to 1902. He served with the 2nd Brigade as its brigade major from August 1909 until September 1913, before becoming a staff officer at the War Office in London.{{sfn|Davies|1997|p=123}} He became a general staff officer, grade 2 at the War Office in April 1912.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28611|page=3794|date=24 May 1912}}</ref>
Shortly after the British entry into World War I in August 1914, Cameron went to France with the 1st Division as its assistant adjutant and quartermaster general as part of the first wave of the British Expeditionary Force.{{sfn|Davies|1997|p=123}} Following the conclusion of this assignment, he was a General Staff Officer Grade 1 with Scottish Command<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28995|page=10297|date=4 December 1914}}</ref> and later the 34th Division, with which he fought in the Battle of the Somme in the second half of 1916, by which time he was commanding the 34th Division's 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade, having assumed command of the brigade the previous December. Cameron was badly wounded by enemy machine gun fire on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme offensive, and his brigade sustained severe casualties.{{sfn|Davies|1997|p=123}}
After recovering from his injuries, he became commander of the 151st (Durham Light Infantry) Brigade, part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, on the Western Front in September 1916. He was promoted to brevet colonel in June 1917 "for distinguished service in the Field".<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30111|page=5463|date=1 June 1917|supp=y}}</ref> After being promoted to the temporary rank of major general in October 1917,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30403|page=12463|date=27 November 1917|supp=y}}</ref> became General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 49th (West Riding) Division also on the Western Front, taking over from Major General Edward Perceval.<ref name=commands>{{cite web|url=https://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201860-.pdf|title=Army Commands|accessdate=13 June 2020}}</ref> He commanded the division during all the major battles of the Lys offensive in April 1918 and in the Hundred Days Offensive in autumn 1918 during the final stages of the First World War.<ref name=trail>{{cite web|url=http://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/order-of-battle-of-divisions/49th-west-riding-division/|title=The 49th (West Riding) Division in 1914-1918|accessdate=15 May 2017}}</ref>
After handing over his command in June 1919, he became commander of 16th Infantry Brigade in Ireland in January 1921 and commander of the 12th Infantry Brigade in November 1923. In June 1925 he received a promotion once again to major general, this time a substantive rank,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33057|page=4030|date=16 June 1925}}</ref> before returning to command the 49th (West Riding) Division, now reformed in the Territorial Army, again between June 1926<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33173|page=3968|date=18 June 1926}}</ref> and 1930.<ref name=commands/> He was then placed on half-pay in June 1930.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33615|page=3725|date=13 June 1930}}</ref>
He was colonel of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders from 1929 to 1943.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/079QOCH.htm |title=The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders |publisher=regiments.org |accessdate=1 August 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070102173957/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/079QOCH.htm |archivedate=2 January 2007 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book |title=Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918 |last=Davies |first=Frank |year=1997 |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |location=London |isbn=978-0-85052-463-5}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Edward Perceval}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division|years=1917–1919}} {{s-aft|after=Henry Davies}} |- {{s-bef|before=Alfred Kennedy}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division|years=1926–1930}} {{s-aft|after=Reginald May}} |- {{S-hon}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Spencer Ewart}} {{s-ttl|title=Colonel of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders|years=1929–1943}} {{s-aft|after=James Drew}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Neville}} Category:1873 births Category:1955 deaths Category:British Army major generals Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officers Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire C Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:People from Southsea