Name George Macdonald | ||
 | ||
Sir George Macdonald KCB FBA FSA FEIS HFRSE DLit LLD (b. Elgin 30 January 1862; d. 9 August Edinburgh 1940) was an eminent archaeologist and numismatist who studied the building methodology of the Antonine wall.
Contents
Life
He was born in Elgin on 30 January 1862. His father, James Macdonald, was a schoolmaster at Elgin Academy and his mother was Margaret Raff. His father moved from Elgin Academy to Ayr Academy during his early youth.
He was then educated at Ayr Academy where his father later became rector. He then studied at Edinburgh University and Oxford University graduating MA in 1887. He then took up a post teaching Classics at Kelvinside Academy. In 1892 he began lecturing in Greek at Glasgow University. At this time he lived at 21 Lilybank Gardens in Glasgow. In 1904 he left academia to join the civil service as Assistant Secretary to the Scottish Education Department being promoted to Secretary in 1922. He retired in 1928.
He was awarded the medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1913.
He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) by King George V in 1927.
As commented upon in his obituary: “scholarship is not incompatible with administrative ability”.
He catalogued the collection of Greek coins in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow. He employed “scientific method and equipment” in his fieldwork and excavations, resulting in new discoveries in the discipline of Romano-British history.
He was chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland from 1934 until his death. In 1940 he served as President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. He received honorary doctorates from Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
He died in Edinburgh on 9 August 1940 and is buried in the 20th century extension to Dean Cemetery on Queensferry Road in western Edinburgh with his family.
Family
He married Margaret Tannahill Younger (1857-1951) in 1897. Their children included, daughter Isobel Margaret Macdonald (1900-1927) and infant son, George (1899-1899).