Hector MacDonald

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For the Scottish mathematician, see Hector Munro Macdonald.

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Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald
March 4th 1853–25 March 1903
Hector MacDonald in Egyptian army uniform
Nickname	Fighting Mac
Place of birth	Black Isle, Scotland
Place of death	Paris, France
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Years of service	1870-1903
Rank	Major-General
Commands held	Highland Brigade
Battles/wars	Second Anglo-Afghan War First Boer War Sudan Campaign Second Boer War
Awards	K.C.B. D.S.O.

Major-General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald (March 4, 1853–March 25, 1903) was a distinguished officer in the British army. He committed suicide after being accused of homosexuality.

Unlike most British generals of the time, he came from a humble background, and worked his way up from the ranks. Also unlike many generals^{[citation needed]}, he was popular with his men, nicknamed Fighting Mac.

Hector MacDonald was born on a farm at Rootfield, near Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland. He was, as were most people in the area at the time, a Gaelic speaker and in later life went by the name Eachann nan Cath "Eachann of the Battles"^[1]. His father William MacDonald was a crofter and a stonemason. His mother was Ann Boyd, the daughter of John Boyd of Killiechoilum and Cradlehall, near Inverness. Hector's brothers were the Rev. William MacDonald Jr., known as 'Preaching Mac', Donald, John, and Ewen. At the age of 15, MacDonald was apprenticed to a draper in Dingwall and then moved on to the Royal Clan Tartan and Tweed Warehouse in Inverness, an establishment owned by a Mr. William Mackay. In 1870, Hector MacDonald joined the Gordon Highlanders.

He rose rapidly through the noncommissioned ranks, and had already been a Colour Sergeant for some years when, in the Afghan War of 1879, he distinguished himself in the presence of the enemy so much as to be given an officer's commission, his advancement being acceptable to his brother officers and popular with the rank and file. As a subaltern he served in the First Boer War of 1880–81. At Battle of Majuba Hill, where he was made prisoner, his bravery was so conspicuous that General Joubert gave him back his sword.

In 1885, he served under Sir Evelyn Wood in the reorganization of the Egyptian army, and took part in the Nile Expedition of that year. In 1888, he became a regimental captain in the British service, but continued to serve in the Egyptian army, concentrating on training Sudanese troops. In 1889, he received the DSO for his conduct at the Battle of Toski and in 1891, after the action at Tokar, he was promoted substantive major.

In 1896, he commanded a brigade of the Egyptian army in the Dongola Expedition, and during the following campaigns he distinguished himself in every engagement, especially in the final Battle of Omdurman (1898) at the crisis of which Macdonald's Sudanese brigade, manoeuvering as a unit with the coolness and precision of the parade ground, repulsed a determined attack from the Mahdists. His actions were witnessed and reported by Winston Churchill, and Kitchener acclaimed MacDonald as "the real hero of Omdurman".

Because of this service MacDonald's name became famous in Britain. He was promoted to colonel in the army and appointed an aide-de-camp to Victoria of the United Kingdom. In 1899, he was promoted major-general and appointed to a command in India. On the 12th May that year, described as "one of the heroes of Omdurman" he was entertained to luncheon by the council of the City of Edinburgh.^[2]

In December 1899, during the Second Boer War, he was called to South Africa to command the Highland Brigade, which had suffered very heavily and had lost its commander, Major-General A. G. Wauchope, in the Battle of Magersfontein. He commanded the brigade throughout Lord Roberts' Paardeberg, Bloemfontein and Pretoria operations, and in 1901 he was made a KCB.

In 1902, he was appointed to command the troops in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) but early the following year he committed suicide with his pistol. Controversy surrounds this, but it seems that he was about to be court-martialed at the instigation of the governor, Sir Joseph West Ridgeway, on charges of sodomy with Sri Lankan boys. There were suspicions that the allegations were fabricated by MacDonald's enemies. He was despised by some in the military establishment, who considered themselves of a superior class and looked down on MacDonald's thick Scottish accent and 'uncultured' ways. The allegations were raised publicly in the International Herald Tribune newspaper and MacDonald shot himself in a Paris hotel room. After he died, it came out that he had been married in 1884 and had a son, Hector Duncan MacDonald, born 1887. His wife came to Paris to claim Hector's body, much to the shock of the British government. Kitchener had always opposed his subordinates marrying as he believed that this distracted them from their military duties. Hector had evidently ignored this and married secretly.

He was lauded as a hero, and James Scott Skinner wrote a tune in his honor called Hector the Hero. His funeral was held in secret at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, but 30,000 people turned up to pay their last respects. In the weeks following, thousands of people from all over the world came to say farewell to Hector Macdonald.

A Government Commission, which sat in Colombo, Ceylon, released a report on the Macdonald tragedy on the 29th June 1903. The report stated that:

"In reference to the grave charges made against the late Sir Hector Macdonald, we, the appointed and undersigned Commissioners, individually and collectively declare on oath that, after the most careful, minute, and exhaustive inquiry and investigation of the whole circumstances and facts connected with the sudden and unexpected death of the late Sir Hector Macdonald, unanimously and unmistakably find absolutely no reason or crime whatsoever which would create feelings such as would determine suicide, in preference to conviction of any crime affecting the moral and irreproachable character of so brave, so fearless, so glorious and unparalleled a hero: and we firmly believe the cause which gave rise to the inhuman and cruel suggestions of crime were prompted through vulgar feelings of spite and jealousy in his rising to such a high rank of distinction in the British Army: and, while we have taken the most reliable and trustworthy evidence from every accessible and conceivable source, have without hesitation come to the conclusion that there is not visible the slightest particle of truth in foundation of any crime, and we find the late Sir Hector Macdonald has been cruelly assassinated by vile and slandering tongues. While honourably acquitting the late Sir Hector Macdonald of any charge whatsoever, we cannot but deplore the sad circumstances of the case that have fallen so disastrously on One whom we have found innocent of any crime attributed to him".

Lady Macdonald (Christina MacLouchan Duncan) died in 1911. Hector's son became an engineer and died in 1951.

A memorial to Hector MacDonald was erected above Dingwall in 1907, in the form of a 100ft high stone tower.

For some years after his death there were rumours that he was still alive, and even that the German General August von Mackensen was really him, but there is no truth in this.