Person Page - 221

Olive Heath Macdonald was born at Walker St in Sydney, New South Wales, on 28 March 1897.¹

She was the informant of Harriet Jane Canning's death at 'Clovelly', Narooma in Wahroonga, New South Wales, on 17 November 1942.²

She married Arthur Russell Browne in Howick, Auckland, in 1951.³

She was widowed on the death of her husband Arthur in 1962.⁴

Olive died on 31 July 1983 in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, at age 86.^5,6

Percy Blomfield Macdonald was born in Invercargill, Southland, on 26 November 1875.¹

He married Henrietta Eliza (Etta) Traill, daughter of Arthur William Traill and Gretchen (Kerekini) Wohlers, at St Paul's parish in Invercargill, Southland, on 24 February 1904.^2,3,4

He gave the bride away at the marriage of Berys Hunter Macdonald and Alexander Ferguson at Remuera, Auckland, on 13 October 1941.^5,6,7

Percy died on 10 November 1944 in Invercargill, Southland, at age 68.⁸ He was buried on 11 November 1944 at the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery in Invercargill.⁹

Robert Conder Macdonald was born in Rarotonga on 19 July 1836.^1,2,3,4

Education of the three Macdonald children was a continuing source of concern and subject of much correspondence with the London Missionary Society, due to the lack of facilities in Samoa. Although first raised in May 1842, agreement was not reached on sending them to England until November 1846, but it is unclear when they actually left. However, Alexander did thank the LMS for settling his two sons into Stockwell Green school by early 1849. The picture shows a painting of the children, done by the LMS in early 1851 and sent back to their parents.^5,6

He signed the register at Frederick Nutter and Eliza Heath Macdonald's wedding at the bride's residence, Abercromby St in Auckland on 17 March 1857.^7,8,9,10

Robert was present at the wedding of Samuel Ludbrook Clarke and Mary Lee (Hannah) Christopher at 'Brick House', Queen St (home of the bride's mother) in Auckland on 30 June 1857.^{11,12,13,14,15}

He married Emma Matthews at the bride's residence, Wellesley St in Auckland on 9 December 1859.^16,17,18,19

In 1900 he was described as an Accountant on his daughter Emma's marriage register entry.²⁰

Robert died on 28 January 1902 at Melbourne Homeopathic Hospital, St Kilda Rd in Sth Melbourne, Victoria, at age 65 of perforation following peritonitis - he had been in Victoria only five days, of which four were spent in hospital.^3,21 He was buried on 30 January 1902 at the Melbourne Cemetery. On a cemetery visit on 17 July 2006, it was clear that the plot (Presbyterian section, compartment R, plot 57) had been re-used and no Macdonald evidence was visible.³

His will was probated in Auckland on 8 August 1902 when Robert's wife Emma gave her brother Seering Hall Matthews, of Auckland, Power of Attorney to administer the estate, which was valued at less than £500. The process was complicated by Robert dying intestate and Emma remaining in Australia.²¹

Robert Nutter Macdonald was born in Auckland on 14 October 1878.^1,2,3,4

Robert died on 25 July 1881 in Auckland at age 2.^1,5 He was buried in 1881 at the Symonds St Cemetery in Grafton.⁶

Sadie Alexander Macdonald was born in Marrickville, New South Wales, on 7 April 1900.^2,3

She married Sydney Herbert Anderson in New Zealand on 10 April 1922.^4,5,6

Sadie died on 24 August 1977 in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, at age 77.^4,7

Sheila Mabel Macdonald was born in Invercargill, Southland, on 4 January 1880.¹

She married George Lyon Cuthbertson, son of Robert Ferguson Cuthbertson and Susan Elizabeth Denniston, in Invercargill, Southland, on 23 June 1903. (However the date is unclear and may have been the 4th or 23rd).^2,3

She was widowed at age 58 on the death of her husband George on 26 July 1938.⁴

Sheila died on 26 January 1965 in Palmerston North at age 85.

Thomas Edmund Macdonald was born in Auckland on 30 December 1862.^1,2,3,4,5,6

Thomas left New Zealand for Australia in 1885.⁷

He married Harriet Jane Canning, daughter of John William Patrick Canning and Sarah Ann Butler, at St Thomas Church in Sydney, New South Wales, on 21 June 1892. Thomas described himself as a chemist, living at Walker St at the time of his marriage. Harriet was under the age of 21 and the minister recorded the consent of her father in the register.^1,2

He gave his occupation as Chemist at the birth of his daughter Ada (1893), then 'Chemist and Dentist' in 1897 when his daughter Olive was born, but was just 'Dentist' in 1901, when Beryl was born.^8,1,9

He signed the register at Archibald Campbell and Ada May Blomfield Macdonald's wedding at Congregational Church, Alfred St in Sydney, New South Wales, on 1 January 1921.^10,11

Thomas died on 3 April 1939 at 5 Russell Ave, Lindfield in Sydney, New South Wales, at age 76 of senile decay.³ He was cremated at the Northern Suburbs Crematorium on 4 April 1939.³

Thomas Forsaith Macdonald was born in Invercargill, Southland, on 5 July 1866.¹

He married Margaret Annie Matheson in New Zealand in 1895.^2,3

Thomas Forsaith Macdonald, Herbert Alexander Macdonald and Arnold Morell (Dick) Macdonald were named executors in the will of Thomas Morell Macdonald dated 3 April 1906 in Invercargill.⁴

Thomas Forsaith Macdonald, Herbert Alexander Macdonald and Arnold Morell (Dick) Macdonald were appointed executors of Thomas Morell Macdonald's estate in Invercargill on 30 April 1909.⁴

He was widowed at age 46 on the death of his wife Margaret on 16 May 1913.^5,6

Thomas's second marriage was to Jessie Nicol Burt on 26 April 1916 at Alex Burt's residence, York Place in Dunedin, Otago.^5,7,8

At the time of his second marriage he described himself as a Commission Agent.⁵

Thomas died on 12 February 1933 in Invercargill, Southland, at age 66.⁹ He was buried on 13 February 1933 at the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery in Invercargill.¹⁰

The following autobigraphical details are sourced from the NZ Dictionary of Biographies, and although interesting, are full of errors (which they refuse to correct). Especially glaring is the reference to Alexander Macdonald moving to missionary work at Ruapuke, which is total garbage - there seem to be a confusion with Johann Wohlers, whose descendents married Macdonalds. However, the entry is reproduced here as it does provide a good overview of his life.

"Tom took great pride in his Scottish descent: one of his great-grandfathers, Alexander Macdonald, had sailed from Wester Ross, Scotland, to Samoa as a missionary in the 1830s, and thence to Ruapuke Island in Foveaux Strait. Another great-grandfather, Thomas Spencer Forsaith, was elected to New Zealand’s first parliament in 1854, and was a member of its shortest ministry.

After matriculating from Southland Boys’ High School, Tom Macdonald joined the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, serving as purser on a number of the company’s ships.

In 1918 he volunteered for military service and went to the Middle East with the final draft of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.

On his return from the war he worked as a teamster and shepherd, then in 1923 acquired his own farm at Rankleburn, near Tapanui. He was married in Tapanui on 7 April 1926 to Elsie Ann Stuart, a fellow Southlander. A keen rugby player, he represented West Otago in 1925. He also belonged to the local Masonic lodge, becoming its worshipful master in 1931.

In 1937 Macdonald sold his farm and moved to Gore. At the general election in 1938 he stood for Parliament as the New Zealand National Party candidate in the Mataura electorate, winning comfortably against the long-serving independent MP and former mayor of Gore, Davy McDougall. Macdonald’s move showed considerable self-confidence, for the first Labour government (which McDougall supported) was still riding high.
Enlisting again as a private in 1940, Macdonald would have the rare distinction among MPs of serving in the Middle East in both the First and Second NZEF. During his second stint of active service he rose to the rank of captain before being invalided home in 1943 because of persistent illness.
Later that year he was re-elected unopposed in the Mataura electorate. In 1946, when the electorate disappeared, he succeeded the former leader of the National Party, Adam Hamilton, in the neighbouring electorate of Wallace. Three years later he was appointed to Sidney Holland’s cabinet as minister of defence, a portfolio he held until his retirement from politics in 1957. Late in 1954 he acquired the additional portfolios of external affairs and island territories.
Macdonald was thus responsible for the conduct of New Zealand’s defence and foreign policy during an important transition in the country’s international relations. In 1954, on becoming a member of the South East Asia Collective Defence Treaty, New Zealand transferred its defence commitment from the Middle East. The following year it established its first diplomatic post in South East Asia, and in 1956, in a new peacetime initiative, stationed armed forces abroad with the Commonwealth Far East Strategic Reserve in Malaya.
As the spokesperson for the armed forces in cabinet, Macdonald had to contend with considerable indifference and even outright antagonism on the part of the prime minister, who as minister of finance was consistently reluctant to contemplate any increase in military commitments or expenditure. By contrast, Macdonald was highly regarded by his officials, whose only reservation was that he was too modest and insufficiently assertive: he simply ‘does not realize that he is quite as good as he is’, wrote the secretary for external affairs, Alister McIntosh. In 1957 McIntosh recorded that Holland had ‘worked up the most intense obsession against Tom Macdonald, whom he accuses of having kept the defence proposals from him for months with the intention of presenting him with a cut and dried plan’. It seems likely that frustration with Holland’s obstructionism over defence commitments and expenditure was the dominant motive in Macdonald’s decision to retire from politics before the 1957 elections.
Macdonald’s relations with Holland’s successor, Keith Holyoake, were also cool. He was seen as an obvious choice to fill the vacant high commissionership in London when National was returned to power in 1960, but he was not, apparently, Holyoake’s first preference, and his appointment was not made for some months. Although his original term, beginning in 1961, was extended until 1968, Macdonald was particularly aggrieved that he was not authorised to take leave in New Zealand during the whole of that period.
His appointment coincided with mounting concern in New Zealand at the prospect that Britain might join the European Economic Community (EEC) and that unrestricted access of New Zealand’s agricultural exports to the United Kingdom would be put at risk. Whereas his predecessors had been able to delegate most of their substantive work to their staff, Macdonald had to lead from the front in seeking to persuade the British government and public that if Britain were to join the EEC, special measures would be needed to allow the continued entry of New Zealand’s agricultural products, especially butter, cheese and lamb, for which Britain had been the traditional market. He was notably successful in establishing first-name contacts with people who mattered both in politics and business, and his devotion to Freemasonry undoubtedly opened doors in the City of London.
During his high commissionership, Macdonald was appointed concurrently as New Zealand’s first ambassador to the EEC in 1961, and its first ambassador to Ireland in 1966. Although Britain did not in fact join the Community until after his retirement, maintenance of New Zealand’s place in the British market remained his principal concern during his seven years in what was then regarded as New Zealand’s most important diplomatic post. In 1963 he was knighted (KCMG). During his time in Britain he often stayed with his cousins in Wester Ross and in 1963 he was named Scotsman of the Year.
After returning to New Zealand, the Macdonalds lived in Waikanae. In his retirement Tom was able to pursue his interest in tramping, photography and gardening. He also enjoyed and had a talent for composing light verse.

Tom Macdonald was known throughout his varied and eventful career for his common sense, friendliness and integrity."¹

Thomas Lachlan Macdonald KCMG was born in Invercargill, Southland, on 14 December 1898.²

He was listed on the roll as a student at Invercargill, Southland, in 1905. (Invercargill Sth admission Register No. 5338).
He served as Lance-Corporal (#79151) with the NZEF 43rd Reinforcement Mounted Rifles and embarked on 10 October 1918 on the Moeraki, leaving Wellington for Sydney, then transferring to the Malta for the Suez.³

He married Elsie Ann Stuart, daughter of George Stuart and Elsie Isabella Cumming, in Tapanui on 7 April 1926.^4,5

He was widowed at age 76 on the death of his wife Elsie on 11 December 1975.^6,7

Thomas died on 11 April 1980 at Wellington Hospital in Wellington at age 81.^8,9,10,11 He was cremated at the Karori Crematorium on 15 April 1980.^8,12

Thomas Morell Macdonald was born in Palauli, Savai'i Island, on 17 May 1840. His middle name of Morell, which has carried down as a middle name through several generations to the present day, originated with the Rev Stephen Morell, a pastor at the London Missionary Society's Homerton College.^1,2,3

Education of the three Macdonald children was a continuing source of concern and subject of much correspondence with the London Missionary Society, due to the lack of facilities in Samoa. Although first raised in May 1842, agreement was not reached on sending them to England until November 1846, but it is unclear when they actually left. However, Alexander did thank the LMS for settling his two sons into Stockwell Green school by early 1849. The picture shows a painting of the children, done by the LMS in early 1851 and sent back to their parents.^4,5

Thomas was present at the wedding of Samuel Ludbrook Clarke and Mary Lee (Hannah) Christopher at 'Brick House', Queen St (home of the bride's mother) in Auckland on 30 June 1857.^6,7,8,9,10

He signed the register at Robert Conder Macdonald and Emma Matthews's wedding at the bride's residence, Wellesley St in Auckland on 9 December 1859.^11,12,13,14

He married Charlotte Clements Forsaith, daughter of Thomas Spencer Forsaith and Elizabeth Mary Clements, at the Forsaith residence, Khyber Pass Rd in Auckland on 7 January 1862.^{15,16,17,18,19}

He was admitted to the bar in Auckland on 29 May 1861 after serving his articles with Frederick Whitaker (of Whitaker and Russell), and commenced practice in Esk Street, Invercargill in 1862, initially in partnership with William Russell and later with his own sons Herbert and Arnold. He would have known William Russell in Auckland, as he had been articled to his elder brother Thomas at Whitaker and Russell. The Macdonald-Russell partnership was dissolved in 1868 when Russell became the first land registrar, but was briefly re-created before Russell set up his own firm in 1889. Both family businesses survived in Invercargill for over 100 years.^20,21

One of his early legal actions was to perform the eviction of a well-known local identity, the so-called 'Black Doctor' (actually one Antonio Richard Williams), who was squatting on land owned by Mr J. Thompson, on the corner of Dee and Leet Streets. However, this resulted in the receipt of a letter reading "If you so pretend to my property and as I heard you were going to eject me, then I will kill you, so help me God. I warn you for your life. - Antonio Williams, nowne az de Blaque Doctor" which bore the symbol of a small dagger with the letters A nd M on the handle.
The Black Doctor was neither black, nor a doctor, but was possibly of Spanish or North American ancestry and may have arrived in Invercargill via an American whaler. His voluminous robes were described as being of a 'Spanish grandee' and he was fond of airing a Johnsonian English vocabulary. His knowledge of herbs and herbal remedies contributed to the 'doctor' of his title. His 'rooms' were more like a substantial wigwam of timbers propped against a tree bough, rather than a house.
Despite the threatening letter, he moved further up Dee St and continued his unique lifestyle until his death in May 1872 at Invercargill Hospital.
The letter graced the rooms of the Macdonald law business until it was presented to the Southland Museum in 1981.²²

He was a member of the Southland Provincial Council for Invercargill (1864-66) and for Campbelltown (1869-70) and was solicitor to the Council until its abolition, when he was appointed Crown Solicitor for the Southland District. He was chairman of the Southland Education Board for 11 years, of the 'Southland Times' to 1896 and was also a member of the Presbyterian Synod.
The family home was 'Enwood', which grew to be a sprawling set of buildings in extensive grounds and gardens.²⁰

The NZ Gazette (1871) lists him as Crown Solicitor (Southland), Revising Barrister, Friendly Societies, and Revising Officer, Building and Land Societies.²³

He acquired a double plot in the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery on 29 April 1881 and somehow must have arranged for his daughter Eleanor's remains to be transferred there, as the cemetery records show she was buried in Block 9, plot 23 on 29 Nov 1881.²⁴

He was widowed at age 54 on the death of his wife Charlotte on 12 December 1894.^25,26,27

He was appointed executor of Charlotte Clements Forsaith's estate in Invercargill on 20 January 1895.²⁷

He was named executor and beneficiary in the will of Thomas Spencer Forsaith, his father-in-law, dated 13 June 1898 in Parramatta, New South Wales; he was to inherit, along with the other executors, most of the land holdings in Australia and New Zealand.²⁸

Elizabeth Mary Clements, Thomas Morell Macdonald and Walter Forsaith Lawry were appointed executors of Thomas Spencer Forsaith's estate in Sydney, New South Wales, on 22 December 1898.²⁹

Thomas's second marriage was to Emma Louisa Georgina McChesney on 29 January 1906 at Caversham in Dunedin, Otago.^30,31,32

He signed a will dated 3 April 1906 in Invercargill, in which he bequeathed £400 to his sister Eliza, £100 to his clerk John Corbet, £30 to his clerk John Hamilton Smith, £400 to the Presbyterian Church (of which half was to go to the Widows and Orphans Fund).
The residue of the estate was bequeathed to his sons Thomas, Herbert and Arnold (or their survivors) to act as trustees and to distribute the funds amongst his children (on attaining the age of 21, or if female either marrying or attaining that age) such that Charlotte Law received a 1/12 share, Elizabeth Quinn a 1/20 share, Isabel a 1/15 share and Sheila Cuthbertson a 1/20 share, with the remainder to be split equally amongst all his sons.
However, the shares of his daughters were to be held in trust such that they received the income during their lifetime and after their death the capital was to be distributed to their children on attaining the age of 21.
Regardless of the above, and as a priority, his second wife Emma was to receive £175/year, reducing to £50/yr if she re-married.³³

Thomas died on 15 March 1909 in Invercargill, Southland, at age 68.³⁴ He was buried on 16 March 1909 at the Invercargill Eastern Cemetery in Invercargill.^35,36

His will was probated in Invercargill on 30 April 1909 with Thomas Forsaith Macdonald, Herbert Alexander Macdonald and Arnold Morell (Dick) Macdonald appointed executors and trustees.
The value of his estate amounted to £39493/3/3d after funeral expenses of nearly £3000.³³