Charles Cameron Shute

General Sir Charles Cameron Shute (3 January 1816 – 30 April 1904) was a British army officer and Conservative Party politician.

Early life Charles Cameron Shute was the eldest son of Thomas Deane Shute of Fern Hill, Isle of Wight, and Bramshaw, Hampshire and his wife Charlotte née Cameron, daughter of General Neville Cameron of the East India Company army. He was educated at Winchester College.

Military career In 1834 Shute entered the army with the rank of cornet in the 13th Light Dragoons, and served with distinction with the regiment during operations in 1839 in the Kurnool area of India. In 1840 he transferred to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons. He served with the 6th Dragoons in the Crimean War, and Shute was promoted to major in June 1854, acting as second in command. He was assistant adjutant general of the cavalry division from November 1854 until its breakup in July 1856. In 1861 he retired on half pay with the rank of brevet colonel, but in May 1862 returned to the army as commanding officer of the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards He remained the CO of the regiment until 1871 when he was promoted to major general. He was made a Companion of the Bath in 1869. From 1873 to 1879 he was honorary colonel of the 1st Sussex Rifle Volunteer Corps.

Member of parliament In 1874 Shute was elected as one of Brighton's two members of parliament. He, along with his fellow Conservative candidate, James Lloyd Ashbury, unseated the sitting Liberal members. He was placed on the retired list in July 1881, although he continued to hold the colonelcy of the 16th Lancers. In 1886, he became colonel of his old regiment, the 6th Dragoons, a post he held until his death. In 1889 he was made an honorary general and a Knight Commander of the Bath. In retirement he was active on the magistrate's bench, being a justice of the peace for Hampshire and Sussex, and a deputy lieutenant of the latter county.

He died at his home, "Dinsdale", Bournemouth in May 1904, aged 88 after a brief illness. He was buried at the Extra-Mural Cemetery, Brighton.