A McDonald Family of London, India & Australia

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These pages contain the research I have done into the McDonald family. My earliest McDonald ancestor was Lieutenant William McDonald who was serving in India in the early 1820s. His son, William Hubert McDonald Jr, was born c.1821/1822, India, and was found living in Islington, London, as early as 1847. A search of Indian baptisms & births yielded two William McDonald Jr's born around 1822, one the s/o of William Bannaytne McDonald (from Isle of Skye, Scotland), a Captain in the East India Company's army, the other the son of Commander William McDonald, a captain in the Bombay Marines, the naval arm of the East India Company. Research has sadly eliminated both of these children - the former was living with his aunts in Skye from 1841 to at least 1861, the later spent his entire life in India. A search of the East India Company records and also the British Army records has failed to yield a third William McDonald Sr serving in India in the early 1820s. With the exhaustion of all available leads, it is doubtful this lineage can be extended backwards. Research into William Bannaytne McDonald & his family can be found via the "MacDonald's of Castleton, Isle of Skye" button above. Research into the family of Commander William McDonald can be found via the "Other McDonald's" button above. Should anyone wish to have their McDonald genealogy included on the later page, please send me an email.

MacDonald, Macdonald, and McDonald are Anglicised forms of the Scottish Gaelic name MacDhòmhnaill. It is a patronym where Mac means "son" and Dhòmhnaill means "of Dòmhnall" [of Donald]. The personal name Dòmhnall is composed of the elements domno "world" and val "might", "rule". A meaning which is perhaps not coincidental as the clan have long assumed the unofficial title of 'Lords of the Isles'. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Therthelnac MakDonenalde, which was dated c.1251, a charter witness at Lesmore, Scotland, during the reign of King Alexander 111 of Scotland, 1249-1286. In the context of Scottish clans, the various forms of the name refer to one of the largest clans, Clan Donald. Clan MacDonald is the most famous and numerous of the long line of Scottish Highland Clans. The surname is now recorded in every part of the world, the origination of the chiefs being from one 'Donald of the Isles' in the 10th century AD.[Wikipedia, Surname Database]

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