Donald Macintyre

Major General Donald Macintyre (12 September 1831 – 15 April 1903) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life Macintyre was born in Kincraig, Scotland in 1831, the second son of Donald Macintyre of Calcutta and his wife, Margaret Mackenzie. Of his sisters, one married the army surgeon William Brydon, one of the few European survivors of the 1842 retreat from Kabul, and another James Travers, who won the VC in the Indian Mutiny.

Macintyre was educated at Addiscombe Military Seminary from 1848 to 1850.

Career Macintyre obtained a commission in the Bengal Army of the British Indian Army in June 1850. Joining the 66th Gurkha Regiment, he served in a number of small campaigns on the North West Frontier. During the 1857–8 Indian Mutiny, he helped raise an extra Gurkha regiment (later the 4th Gurkha Rifles), and to protect the hill passes on the Kali Kumaon frontier from Rohilkhand rebels. He was promoted to captain in June 1862.

He was also mentioned in dispatches and, in September 1872, promoted to brevet lieutenant-colonel.

Later life Macintyre was an extensive traveller and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He published an account of his experiences in Hindu Koh: Wanderings and Wild Sports on and beyond the Himalayas (1889).