George Macdonald

Sir George Macdonald (30 January 1862 – 9 August 1940) was a British archaeologist and numismatist who studied the Antonine Wall.

Life

Macdonald 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.

Macdonald was educated at Ayr Academy where his father had become rector.

Macdonald was involved in archaeological excavations from 1902, when he excavated Bar Hill Fort with Alexander Park. Macdonald's father had also an interest in Roman archaeology.

Macdonald was a significant influence on Anne Strachan Robertson, one of his students; her obituary states that "Her own rich contribution owed much to the influence of Sir George Macdonald, who dominated Romano-British studies between the world wars. From him she imbibed the patience in noting details and the dispassionate weighing of evidence that Macdonald had so admired in Francis Haverfield, an earlier giant in the field".

In 1904 Macdonald left academia to join the civil service as Assistant Secretary to the Scottish Education Directorates, being promoted to Secretary in 1922.

He married Margaret Tannahill Younger (1857-1951) in 1897.

Awards and positions

From 1892-1904 Macdonald catalogued the collection of Greek coins in the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, Glasgow, and as a result was made Honorary Curator for life in 1905.

He received honorary doctorates from Oxford University, the University of Cambridge, the University of Glasgow and Edinburgh University.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) by King George V in 1927.

In 1932 a volume of the Journal of Roman Studies (22) was issued in his honour.

Portraits Sir George Macdonald, 1862-1940. Archaeologist, by Maurice Greiffenhagen Sir George Macdonald, 1917, by Walter Stoneman

Publications Catalogue of Greek Coins in the Hunterian Collection, University of Glasgow, 3 vols (Glasgow, 1899-1905) Coin Types: Their Origin and Development (the Rhind Lectures of 1904) (Glasgow, 1905). The Roman Forts on the Bar Hill, Dumbartonshire (Glasgow, 1906), with Alexander Park. The Roman Wall in Scotland (the Dalrymple Lectures of 1910) (1911), revised and republished in 1934 "The building of the Antonine Wall: a fresh study of the inscriptions". Journal of Roman Studies (1921) 11:1–24. "Ancient Persian Coins in India", "Ancient Greek Coins in India" and "The Hellenic Kingdoms of Syria, Bactria and Parthia", in The Cambridge Ancient History of India, vol. 1 (1922), pp. 342–4, 386-90, 427-66. The Roman Occupation of Britain (the Ford Lectures delivered by Francis Haverfield and revised by Macdonald) (Oxford 1924).