Welsh Journals

NATHANIEL CAMERON THE FIRST REFORM MAYOR OF SWANSEA BERNICE CARDY In The Cambrian newspaper of 7 May 1852 there appeared a advertisement for the sale of "The Cameron Estate"; listed are the details of properties in Swansea and all over Gower. The owner of the estate was a 19th century character in Swansea's history who is all but forgotten, but he, and the reasons for the sale, are a fascinating story. Nathaniel Cameron was born 27 March 1787 the second son of Lt. General Alan Cameron and his wife, Ann Phillips, of Slebech Hall, Pembrokeshire. Alan Cameron was an impoverished Scot who with his wife's fortune formed the 79th Highland Regiment. Nathaniel's military career was not as distinguished or colourful as his father's, though he served with distinction in the Peninsular War. Swansea legend claimed that Nathaniel had commanded his battalion at the battle of Waterloo, which added to his popularity but was untrue.2 When Nathaniel left the army to devote himself to business is not known; a document of 1821 refers to him as "Cameron a Colonel in his Majesty's Army". Nathaniel gained control of his estate in 1821 on the death of his mother-in-law, Mayzod Pryce Cuny, when it was known as the Gellihir Estate. The estate had been formed in 1578 when John Price, a London lawyer who was from a Briton Ferry family and the Crown Commissioner for the dissolved Abbey of Neath, bought much of Neath's property in Gower and came to live on the largest holding, the Grange of Cwrt-y-Came, in what is now Gorseinon. The family land holdings increased, mainly due to judicious marriages with the leading local families and intermarriages. At its largest extent in the mid 18th century, the Price estates were second only to those of the Mansells of Penrice; in the 17th century their combined holdings had made them serious rivals of the Mansells in Gower.5 The last direct male descendant of John, Joseph Pryce, died in 1785 leaving two daughters, Mary, who was the wife of her kinsman (Sir) Gabriel Powell the younger, and Mayzod, who married the Rev. John Powell Cuny. Nathaniel married Laetitia Pryce Cuny in 1812; as the only child of the marriages of her mother and aunt, Laetitia inherited the Gellihir Estate by the complex will of Mary Powell who died 1 December 1793. By the terms of the will Laetitia was to have the "said Estates. [which] were not to be subject to the Controul or Management, Receipt, or disposal, of any Husband she might marry, nor liable to the Debts or Engagements of any