Brown and Cameron's shared roots
Published on : 13/04/2007
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Although Gordon Brown and David Cameron may sit on opposite sides of the House of Commons the pair share common ground in their ancestry, it has emerged.
Mid-Victorian Scottish census data shows that both politicians were descended from farmers living just 150 miles apart, but the Cameron family went on to enjoy much greater success than the Browns in the 19th century.
Conservative leader Mr Cameron is the great-great grandson of Sir Ewen Cameron, former chairman of HSBC and one of Scotland's most successful financiers, and can even claim a direct blood relation to William IV through his father's maternal grandmother.
However the chancellor is the first person in his family to achieve political success and comes from a long line of agricultural labourers and stonemasons in Fife.
Their names are among the 24 million names in seven Scottish censuses now complete and fully indexed online for the first time on the Ancestry website. Other well known Scots of the day appearing in the census include author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Field Marshal Douglas Haig.
Speaking about the discovery, Ancestry spokesperson Simon Harper said: "The 1841 Scotland census entries for [Mr] Brown and [Mr] Cameron's ancestors highlight the modern relevance of historical records and in this case may further motivate Mr Brown to ensure his family's upward political mobility by keeping blue-blooded Cameron at bay."
