====== Macdonell, Sir James ====== 
(died 15 May 1857), soldier. Born in Inverness-shire, Scotland. Parents: Duncan Macdonell, the 14th chief of the Clan Macdonell of Glengarry, and his wife Marjory Grant. James Macdonell, the subject of the present entry, was the brother of Alexander (or Alasdair) Ranaldson Macdonell (d. 1828), the 15th chief, who was associated with the future Bishop Alexander Macdonell in raising the 1st Glengarry Fencibles in Scotland in the 1790s. In contrast to the troubled and erratic course of life of Alexander Ranaldson, James had a splendidly successful military and administrative career, rising to the ranks of knight and general. He proved himself a soldier of distinction in the Napoleonic Wars, serving in Italy, Egypt, and in the Peninsular campaigns, where he was for two years on the staff of the future Duke of Wellington, and in Holland and at the Battle of Waterloo, when his heroic defence of the Chateau de Hougoumont brought him particular distinction. After further service in Ireland, he was sent to Canada in 1838, commanding a brigade of Guards who were sent to Canada with Lord Durham. In Canada, Lord Durham placed him on the Special Council which Durham had named to assist in the government. When the rebellions broke out again in November 1838, Macdonell took part in suppressing them. He left Canada in 1842. His death came in London, Eng. Roman Catholic. He appears to have been unmarried.

<tab>His family ties gave him many linkages with GC and Stormont County, and must have made him an object of great attraction for the eminent men of the two counties at that time, including the retired partners of the NWC. He was a close friend of Bishop Macdonell. W. J. Macdonell, in his //Reminiscences// (1888) of Bishop Macdonell, mentions (p. 29) a “grand dinner” given at Kingston to “Sir James Macdonell, the ‘hero’ of Hougoumont,” and uses an incident from it to illustrate how much the bishop, who was “chairman” at the dinner, loved bagpipe music. John A. Macdonell (Greenfield) of Alexandria, who owned an original document from Sir James’s “first visit” to GC, says, “He was, of course, a frequent visitor to his friends and relatives in Glengarry during his command in Canada.” (The “of course” disconcertingly nudges over the proof of “frequent” from evidence to logic.) Certainly, Sir James was in GC in July 1848. On that occasion he reviewed the four regiments of GC militia, and spoke to the Highlanders in Gaelic. The //Montreal Gazette// of 14 July 1838 reported, “The Right Reverend Bishop M’Donell, and Major General Sir James M’Donell, K. C. B., arrived at Kingston, on the 11th instant, after spending a few days in Glengarry. On leaving his Highland friends in Glengarry, the Major General was escorted by upwards of one hundred gentlemen from that quarter as far as Dickinson’s Landing [west of Cornwall]. Nothing, it is said, could surpass the handsome reception which he met with on his arrival at Lancaster.” Rather surprisingly, he may have been the only person from the immediate families of the Highland chiefs to visit the people of the Canadian Glengarry in the 19th century.


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<fs small>Life by Elinor Kyte Senior, //Dictionary of Canadian Biography//, VIII, 538-539 * lives of him and his brother Alexander Ranaldson the chief in //DNB// and //ODict//; the //DNB// life of the latter includes an intriguingly erroneous capsule history of the founding of GC * Macdonell, //Sketches//, 319 &c. * Brian D. Osborne, //The Last of the Chiefs: Alasdair Ranaldson Macdonell of Glengarry 1773-1828// (Argyll, Scotland, 2001): family background, various biog. data on Sir James in life of his brother the chief * visit: //Montreal Gazette// 14 July & (more fully) 4 Aug. 1838, //The Montreal Transcript// 7 Aug. 1838; these includes texts of the addresses presented to the General, and his words of reply
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