Commanding Officer 48th Battalion “Highlanders” 1900 – 1906

An original 48th Highlander officer, William Campbell Macdonald was appointed Major upon joining in February 1892 from the Queen’s Own Rifles. He was Adjutant of Canada’s Bisley Rifle team in 1892 and a shooting member in 1896. He became the Regiment’s third Commanding Officer on 8 June 1900, serving in that role to 1906. Macdonald subsequently commanded the 16th (Toronto) Infantry Brigade in 1908 and during the First World War the 1st Canadian Infantry Training Brigade at Exhibition Camp in Toronto. On Jan. 21 1917, while seeing off Canadian Army Service Corps soldiers Brig. Macdonald was killed at Union Station by a reversing train engine.

William Campbell Macdonald was born on May 31, 1856, the son of Benjamin Macdonald and Dorothy Campbell, who had emigrated from Scotland and settled in Chinguacousy Township, Ontario. His grandfather was Daniel Macdonald, a native of Caithness Shire in Scotland, who had been engaged in business in Edinburgh, where his son Benjamin, Colonel Macdonald’s father, was born. Macdonald enlisted in the Queen’s Own Rifles in March 1878, at the age of 21 and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant three years later, in March 1881. He saw later promotions: to Lieutenant in November 1881 and to Captain in February, 1884. William Campbell Macdonald served as Captain of No. 3 Service Company, 2nd Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles during the North West Canada Rebellion of 1885. He was a resident of Toronto, when he was awarded the North West Canada Medal and is on the “List of Members of the Militia Force lately on Active Service in the North-West, in 1885, claiming to be entitled to “Grants of Land” under the provisions of 48-49 Victoria, Chapter 73.” He was appointed Adjutant of the Regiment in 1886 and continued to serve in that capacity in the rank of Captain, until transferred to the 48th Highlanders as a Major upon the organization of the regiment in February 1892. Macdonald was gazetted Lieutenant Colonel Commanding the 48th Highlanders on June 8th, 1900. He was named Lieutenant Colonel Commanding the 16th (Toronto) Infantry Brigade, from the Reserve of Officers, the vice J.I. Davidson, effective February 20, 1908, the announcement appearing in the Canada Gazette of Saturday, April 4, 1908, page 2629. He took an active interest in Militia affairs, particularly in matters pertaining to the encouragement of rifle shooting, and for many years was a regular attendant at the rifle matches of the Ontario and Dominion Rifle Associations. For many years he was a member of the Council and also of the Executive Committee of the Dominion Rifle Association, along with being a member of the Council and Chairman of the Executive and Finance Committees of the Ontario Rifle Association. He was a member of the Bisley Team in 1896 and served as Adjutant of the Team in 1892. Since the organization of the Highlanders, he was Chairman of the Regimental Rifle Committee and Captain of the Rifle Teams. He served on various occasions on the Staff of the District Camps of Instruction at Niagara in the several capacities as Instructor in Musketry. He had been Brigade Major and Chief Staff Officer, and was acting in the latter capacity at the Divisional Camp at Niagara when gazetted to the command of the regiment. Macdonald was vice-president of the [now Royal] Canadian Military Institute and held First Class Royal School of Infantry and Equitation Certificates. During the First World War, he was promoted to Colonel and Brigadier or the 1st Canadian Infantry Training Brigade, Military District No. 2 at Exhibition Camp in Toronto, as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. On January 21, 1917, Macdonald died at the age of 60, when he was crushed to death beneath the wheels of an engine that backed into a crowd of people at Union Station in Toronto, while seeing off a Canadian Army Service Corps draft.

He is buried in Forest Lawn Mausoleum in Toronto. A plaque was erected in his honour by the Officers of the 1st Canadian Infantry Training Brigade at the Cathedral Church of Saint James in Toronto, the plaque inscribed: “IN MEMORY OF COLONEL WILLIAM CAMPBELL MACDONALD / BRIGADIER 1ST INFANTRY TRAINING BRIGADE / CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE / MILITARY DISTRICT NO. 2 / BORN 31ST MAY 1856 / DIED IN PERFORMANCE OF DUTY 21ST JANUARY 1917 / ERECTED BY OFFICERS OF THE BRIGADE”.