(1865-20 Jan. 1933; age at death also given as 70), lawyer, author. (A. McLean Macdonell) Born in Cornwall, Ont. Parents: John (Greenfield) Macdonell, a lawyer, of Cornwall, Ont., and his wife Isabella McLean. Alexander McLean Macdonell attended Upper Canada College 1877-1882 and the University of Toronto (B. A., 1886) and Osgoode Hall, and became a barrister in 1889. He practised law in Toronto for many years, his area of specialization being corporation or commercial law. (K.C., 1908 or 1911). Place of death: Toronto. (three children)

     He was the author of Fighting Men of a Highland Catholic Jacobite Clan Who Fought in Canada to Gain It for and Preserve It to the Crown and for the Honour of the Name of Glengarry (pp. 54; 1912?), which was published anonymously and “For Private Circulation Only.” It deals with the soldiers of Glen Garry, Scotland, and GC, Canada. While not a history as such, it contains lists of names and useful miscellaneous biographical data, and reprints historical documents. The events covered extend from the capture of Louisbourg and Quebec 1758-1759 to the Rebellion of 1837-1838. An interesting entry in a Toronto bookseller’s catalogue of 1972 lists two copies for sale, both annotated by the author, and one inscribed to J. W. Garvin, the Canadian editor and promoter of Canadian literature, and the other to Alexander Fraser, who was presumably the archivist of Ontario of that name who has an entry in the present dictionary. W. L. Scott mentions “a manuscript life” of the famous John Macdonell, attorney general, who died at Queenston Heights, written “by the late A. McLean Macdonell, K. C.”

     A. McLean Macdonell was married to Jane Marion Powell of Toronto. Despite the title of his book, he was a Presbyterian and a Mason. He was the grandson of Donald Macdonell of Greenfield, who was MLA for GC. Also, A. McLean Macdonell, the subject of the present entry, was the father of Judge Ian McLean Macdonell.

Toronto Mail 21 Jan. 1933 (two items), & note on his estate, Toronto Telegram 23 Feb. 1933 * Morgan (1912) 685 * Harkness 423 (parents) * Bibliography of Glengarry 30 * Hugh Anson-Cartwright “Canadiana Nine” catalogue (1972), item 92 * information from Upper Canada College Archives * Scott ii, 31n.