Biography
George Frederick Cameron ( 24 Sept. 1854 - 17 Sept. 1885) was a Canadian poet, lawyer, and journalist, best known for the libretto for the operetta Leo, the Royal Cadet. He was born 24 Sept. 1854 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. His parents were James Grant Cameron and Jessie Sutherland. He was educated in New Glasgow.
He moved to Boston in April 1869. He graduated from the Boston University School of Law in 1877. He worked for the law firm Dean, Butler and Abbot of Boston from 1877-1882. He contributed poetry to Boston periodicals, including the Courier and the Transcript. In fall 1882 he enrolled in Queen?s College in Kingston, Ontario where he won a poetry prize in 1883 for ?Adelphi.? He was a member of the Confederation Poets who had a distinctive Canadian poetic style. He married Ella Amey on 22 Aug. 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.
George Frederick Cameron was a war poet since he was a poet writing in time of and on the subject of the Anglo-Zulu War. He wrote Leo, the Royal Cadet. The latter achieved over 1,700 performances between its premiere in 1889 and 1925 and has recently been revived in a revised version. 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). ..
