Ewen Cameron (banker)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Ewen Cameron KCMG (23 June 1841-10 December 1908) was a Scottish born accountant and banker who rose to be London head of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

Born in Invernessshire, he was the eldest of the offspring of William Cameron of Upper Muckovie, near Culloden and Catherine, daughter of Ewen Cameron, a farmer of Tomchrasky, Glen Moriston ^[1]. He joined the Caledonian Bank in 1859 and subsequently the Bank of Hindustan, China, and Japan which transferred him to its Hong Kong branch in 1866. His abilities, described as "remarkable" by The Times helped him to land a position with the newly formed Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation bank after the Bank of Hindustan went into liquidation. Serving first as accountant, he then became the agent of the Calcutta branch, subsequently becoming manager of the Shanghai branch, in which position he served until 1890 when he became head of the company's London office. He was knighted in 1901^[2].

During 1904 Cameron was involved with other leading London financiers including John Baring (2nd Baron Revelstoke) of Baring Bros., Arthur Francis Levita and W.M. Koch of Panmure Gordon (Levita's daughter Enid would later marry Cameron's grandson Ewen Donald Cameron in 1930), Sir Marcus Samuel of Samuel Samuel & Co, Carl Meyer and Otto Kahn in negotiations with the Japanese central banker and later Prime Minister Takahashi Korekiyo in the selling of war bonds to finance Japanese defense during the Russo-Japanese war^[3].

After suffering bouts of ill health in 1903 and at the end of 1904, Cameron retired in February, 1905 and died at 41, Mansfield Gardens, London on 10 December 1908 aged 67. He had married Josephine Elizabeth Houchen, daughter of John Houchen of Thetford, Norfolk in 1878 by whom he had five children. His eldest son, Ewen Allan Cameron, senior partner in Panmure Gordon^[4] and member of the Council of Foreign Bondholders^[5] (who died 14 November 1937 in Vienna^[6]) was the great grandfather of the Conservative party leader David Cameron^[7][8].

[edit] Notes