George Frederick Cameron

George Frederick Cameron (24 September 1854 – 17 September 1885) was a Canadian poet, lawyer, and journalist, best known for the libretto for the operetta Leo, the Royal Cadet.

Life

He was born in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, the son of James Grant Cameron and Jessie Sutherland. He was educated in New Glasgow.

He moved to Boston in April 1869. For three years he was writing on the subject of freedom, especially the struggle which was taking place in Cuba. In the fall of 1882, he enrolled in Queen's College in Kingston, Ontario, where he won a poetry prize in 1883 for "Adelphi". He is sometimes considered one of the Confederation Poets.

He married a 12-year Ella Amey on 22 August 1883. He was the editor of the Daily News in Kingston, Ontario, from March 1883 until his death of heart failure on 17 September 1885 at Millhaven, Ontario. The couple had had one daughter, Jessie Cameron Alison. In 1887, his brother, Charles L. Cameron, edited and published a selection of Cameron's poems under the title Lyrics on Freedom, Love and Death (Kingston, 1887).

Recognition Cameron's poem "On Leaving the Coast of Nova Scotia" was included in the 1889 anthology Songs of the Great Dominion. His poetry also appeared in A Century of Canadian Sonnets (1910).

Cameron was declared a Person of National Historic Significance in 1946. A bronze plaque was affixed to the New Glasgow post office (since moved to the town's Dominion Building) by Historic Sites and Monuments of Canada which reads: "George Frederick Cameron, Poet and Journalist, Author of Lyrics of Freedom, Love and Death. Born at New Glasgow, 24 September 1854. Died in Kingston, Ontario, 17 September 1885."

Works

Leo, the Royal Cadet, George Frederick Cameron (libretto) and Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann, 'An entirely new and original military opera in four acts' (Kingston, 1889) "Ho! Ho! My Airy Fairy Maid", "Ho! Ho! My Pretty Maid", "I met him in the far away" from Opera and Operetta Excerpts, composer: Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann