From Herd-boy to General.

Manawatu Herald, 23 May 1903, Page 2

From Herd-boy to General.

Feft stories of life in the Army appeal so strongly to the imagination as does the career of General Sir Hector Macdonald. General Macdonald’s parents were poor crofters in Rosshire, and he had worked as a herd-boy and stable-help before being apprenticed to an Inverness draper. He incontinently departed in quest of more heroic employment, and for . nine years endured the drudgery of a private in the Gordon Highlanders. The Afghan campaign of 1879-80 under Lord Roberts found him advanced to the rank of sergeant. In this position he had command of a blockhouse, to which tidings were brought to him of a plot to assassinate Lord Roberts and his staff. Macdonald, with his little force, made a hurried march and found a. number of Afghans, lying in ambush on high ground overlooking the route by which Lord Roberts would pass. A furious bayonet charge cleared them out, but they left 30 dead in the trap as evidence of the fighting. For this feat Lord Roberts offered Macdonald choice of the V.C. or a commission. The latter was accepted, and it was as a second lieutenant that he was afterwards presented at Majuba Hill. Here his heroic gallantry so impressed the Boers that Gen. Jouhert caused his sword to be returned to him. It was as a brevet-colonel that he went to the Soudan. His part at Omdurman has been celebrated by an eye-wit-ness as follows: “ The double honors of the day had been won by Col. Macdonald and his Khedivial Brigade. He achieved the victory entirely oft his own bat.” Honours followed thick and fast after this He was created major-general, a 0.8., an A.D C. to Queen Victoria, and sent to India to command a brigade there. The death of General Wauchop led to his appointment to the command of the Highland Brigade. He was badly wounded at Paardeberg, but recovered in time to join Lord Roberts upon his march to Bloemfontein. His appointment to Ceylon followed a period of rest and travel.