William Cameron

CAMERON, William. b. near Ballater, Aberdeenshire, 1751; d. Kirknewton, Midlothian, 17 November 1811. He was educated at Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he was a student and friend of the poet James Beattie. It may have been through Beattie’s influence that Cameron became a member of the Committee of the General Assembly charged with producing the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases, which appeared in 1781. In turn, it may have been Cameron who introduced the dubious figure of John Logan* to the Committee. Certainly Cameron was known as a poet (he produced a volume, Poems on Various Subjects, in 1780), and he moved in the best Edinburgh circles: it was through the influence of the Duke...