Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor

Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor (27 May 1888 – 20 January 1966), was a British Labour Party politician and Newfoundland's final British governor as well as the last chairman of the Commission of Government serving from 1946 until the dominion joined Confederation in 1949 and became a province of Canada.

Early life Macdonald was born in Gwaenysgor, near Prestatyn, Flintshire, Wales. His birth was registered (as Gordon McDonald) in Holywell in the third quarter of 1888. His father, Thomas Macdonald, and his mother, Ellen, were both Welsh. The family moved to the Lancashire Coalfield where he was brought up, his father working as a coalminer in a pit near Ashton in Makerfield. In 1950 he was leader of the British delegation to the Commonwealth Conference on Economic Aid to Countries of South East Asia held in Sydney, Australia and was a delegate to United Nations General Assembly at Lake Success, New York. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1951. He held office until Labour lost power at the 1951 general election.

Later life Macdonald continued to be active in public life.

A fluent Welsh speaker, from 1952 to 1960 he was National Governor for Wales of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and from 1953 until his death was chairman of the Broadcasting Council for Wales. From 1952 to 1959 he was a member of the Colonial Development Corporation.

A Congregationalist in religion, he was National President of the Band of Hope Union of Great Britain in 1951. He held two honorary doctorates in law from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick and the University of Wales.

Family In 1913 he married Mary Lewis of Blaenau Ffestiniog. The couple had two sons and one daughter.

He died in January 1966, aged 77. His eldest son, Gordon Ramsay MacDonald, succeeded him in the barony.