The Sisters

THE  SISTERS

   Dillon and Cameron were fortunate to each have a sister who would enhance their sketches made in the African bush, or, in Cameron’s case, would compose sketches from descriptions given by the brother.

JANE  CATHERINE  DILLON  –  SISTER  OF  DR. DILLON (W.E.D.)

   Jane was a couple of years older than her brother, William Edward Dillon, the doctor, the Royal Navy Officer and the explorer.  She was the best artist in the family, and some of her original paintings are held by descendants today.

Jane  Catherine  Dillon, sister of the Doctor

Several times, W.E.D. sent sketches home to his sister Jane.  He would include the pencilled drawings in letters home.  One time he wrote that he had to hurry up with writing the letter – a caravan of camels was waiting outside his tent to carry his mail 300 miles to the sea, where it would be entrusted to a sea-going Captain to take to a port in England.

  

 Dillon asked Jane “to touch them up.”  She did a superb job, and a number were published in The London Illustrated News, a weekly newspaper published and sold in London and beyond, with about 300,000 subscribers at the time.  The original sketches from W.E.D. would have been smaller than those published, and likely Jane reproduced her brother’s compositions.

  W.E.D. promised Jane a quarter of “the take,” and as he had arranged to be paid £4 per sketch, Jane would have received £1 per sketch for her efforts.  Other sketches by W.E.D. sent home, were used by his friend Cameron in his book Across Africa published in 1877.

  Most of the illustrations described above can be found in Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone’s Africa, available in February, 2014.

HELENA  ALICE  LOVETT  CAMERON  -  SISTER  OF  LT.  CAMERON

   Helena Cameron was Verney Cameron’s youngest sister.  All Victorian ladies were taught to draw and paint as part of their education.  It is likely Cameron prevailed on his sister to draw sketches from his descriptions and sketches made on site.  Cameron’s book Across Africa is full of Helena’s sketches, many of which have been reproduced in Dr. William Edward Dillon, Navy Surgeon in Livingstone’s Africa.

  

 The only known portrait of Helena is as one of the ladies wearing hats and seated in front of Cameron, all a part of the large Cope painting described in an earlier post.  Helena was creative in arts and crafts and decorated many items with marquetry wood staining.

  

 Helena died in 1931 at the age of 80.  Her memorial plaque may be found under the Waley Cohen window of St George and the Dragon on the south side of the Church in Shoreham, Kent, England.