John Cameron
Individual, P001
Biography
John Cameron (1806 - 1866) came from Bradstead in Kent, England. He arrived in Van Diemen’s Land in 1837. He married Eliza Milbough Snell on 25th February 1837. They travelled from Hobart to Launceston where their first child, Emma, was born on 27th January 1838.John was a very successful businessman. He was an original shareholder of the Launceston Gas Co., formed in 1858, and was a Justice of the Peace in Launceston and surrounding districts.
He owned a house and land at the bottom end of St. John Street, also Newnham Hall and Oakburn on the Paterson’s Plains Road. As well, he had two grants of land in the country, ‘Hawkridge’ at Snakes Banks (Powranna), and ‘Combe Bank’ near Ben Lomond.
The Cameron family made several journeys back to England, and their youngest child, Kate, was born in London on 4th March 1856.
Emma, the eldest, married Robert Walker, who became Mayor of Hobart.
John was a man of industry, and built several mills in Hobart and Launceston. Ritchie’s Mill was one of these. He also built a flume from the First Basin to the mouth of the Gorge to drive his mill-wheel; during summertime he would sell water by the barrel to needy Launceston householders.
John was a strong supporter of St. John’s Church and was a churchwarden there in 1839 and 1840. A small square chancel was erected at the east end of St. John’s in 1866-68, and Cameron ordered a three-light stained-glass window from Ferguson & Urie of Melbourne, for the new extension. However, he died before it arrived in Launceston and so Emma Cameron presented the window as his memorial soon after in 1866.
When St. John’s was extended in 1901-1911, the small chancel was removed and its windows stored in the tower until 1938 when the walls of the nave were raised. The main section of this window was erected in the south clerestory. The subject of the window is ‘The Ascension’, the work of Ferguson and Urie of Melbourne (1866). The top part of the window was not repositioned but the 3 round features are in the church archive. The inscription has disappeared.
Source
Extract from Engraved in Memory by J.S.Gill. 1988Related objects
Roundel - Omega (contributor)Roundel - Alpha (contributor)
Roundel - Dove (contributor)
John Cameron Memorial Window (contributor)