Researching Malcolm Cameron

He was born in Perth in Upper Canada in 1831. He was the son, probably adopted, of Malcolm Cameron. He attended Knox College in Toronto, later studying law. In 1855, he had moved to Goderich, was called to the bar in 1860, later became part of a law firm there and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1876. Cameron joined the Goderich town council and later became mayor. In 1867, he was elected to the 1st Canadian Parliament representing Huron South.

His re-election in 1874 was overturned in 1875 but he was elected again in 1878. He defended the interests of the salt industry in the Goderich area in parliament. He took an interest in western Canada, pushing without success for representation in parliament for the North-West Territories and denouncing the hanging of Louis Riel.

In June 1898, he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories.

He died a few months later in London, Ontario.

His son Malcolm also served as a member of the Ontario assembly and as mayor of Goderich.

Euphemia township in Lambton County, Ontario was named by Cameron in honour of his mother, Euphemia McGregor.

Cameron was born at German Creek, where his father managed a pastoral property, and was educated at the Tantanoola school. He began farming at German Creek, before acquiring property at Glencoe when John Riddoch divided the former Glencoe Station. He was clerk of the District Council of Tantanoola for twenty years, president of the local progress association, president of the Glencoe branch of the Agricultural Bureau, vice-president of the Mount Gambier Agricultural and Horticultural Society, and one of the key figures in the construction of the district hall and a member of its committee. He was credited with much of the responsibility for the development of the Glencoe railway line. He was a prominent member of the Farmers and Producers Political Union and later served as president of the local branch of its successor, the Liberal Union.

Cameron was elected to the House of Representatives at the 1922 federal election during a bitter split in the Nationalist Party in South Australia, which saw the party's two state affiliates, the Liberal Union and National Party, run competing tickets at that year's federal election. Cameron ousted the incumbent MP, John Livingston, for Liberal Union preselection, after the party's Barker district committee voted to endorse him over Livingston without a plebiscite. The National Party did not contest the seat and Livingston retired after losing preselection, and Cameron went on to narrowly win the seat against Labor on Country Party preferences.

He was re-elected at five successive elections, and served as a member of the Standing Committee on Public Works, including a stint as chairman. Cameron suffered a serious illness early in 1934, and though he initially recovered enough to be endorsed to stand again at the 1934 federal election, his illness recurred and he was forced to withdraw his candidacy in July and retire. He was confined to his bed for six months prior to his death in March 1935, and was buried at the Mount Gambier Cemetery.

Cameron's collection is shared between the Natural History Museum in London (55,000 Staphylinidae) and the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova in Genoa, Italy.

The son of Malcolm Colin Cameron and Jessie H. McLean, he was born in Goderich and was educated there. Cameron served on the town council for Goderich, also serving as reeve and as mayor. He was named a King's Counsel in 1902. He ran unsuccessfully for the Huron West seat in the Canadian House of Commons in 1911.

Cameron published A Treatise on the Law of Dower in 1882.