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Sir John Hay Athole MacDonald

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"SIR JOHN HAY ATHOLE MACDONALD (1836-1919), British lawyer and judge, was born at Edinburgh Dec. 27 1836. He was educated at Edinburgh and at Basel University, was called to the Scottish bar in 1859, and rapidly made his name as an advocate. From 1874 to 1876 he was sheriff for the counties of Ross, Cromarty and Sutherland, and from 1876 to 1880 solicitorgeneral for Scotland. In 1880 he became a Q.C. and sheriff of Perth, and from 1882 to 1885 was dean of the Faculty of Advocates. In 1885 he successfully contested Edinburgh and St. Andrew's universities in the Conservative interest, and was appointed lord-advocate by Lord Salisbury's Government, resuming this office when the Conservatives returned to power in 1886. In 1888 he became lord justice clerk of Scotland and president of the second division of the Court of Session, with the courtesy title of Lord Kingsburgh, retiring in 1915. He was made K.C.B. in 1900 and G.C.B. in 1916. He died at Edinburgh May 9 1919. Macdonald was all his life a strong supporter of the volunteer movement, for which he did much valuable work. He published various books on the subject, the most important being Fifty Years of It (1909).