Hector MacDonald - Aftermath

Aftermath

The suicide of the famous war-hero caused great public shock. For the Government, part of the shock was the discovery that MacDonald had a wife and a son. In 1884, aged 31, he had secretly married a girl of fifteen. They had seen each other only four times in the subsequent nineteen years. (Lady MacDonald died in 1911; MacDonald's son became an engineer and died in 1951.) MacDonald's funeral was held in secret at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh, but 30,000 people turned up to pay their last respects. In the weeks following thousands more from all over the world came to say farewell, James Scott Skinner wrote a tune in his honour called Hector the Hero, and Robert W. Service wrote his poem "Fighting Mac".

The case file "was almost certainly destroyed as a precaution immediately after his suicide"; a Government Commission released a report on the tragedy on 29 June 1903:

In reference to the grave charges made against the late Sir Hector MacDonald, we, the appointed and undersigned Commissioners, individually and collectively declare on oath that, after the most careful, minute, and exhaustive inquiry and investigation of the whole circumstances and facts connected with the sudden and unexpected death of the late Sir Hector MacDonald, unanimously and unmistakably find absolutely no reason or crime whatsoever which would create feelings such as would determine suicide, in preference to conviction of any crime affecting the moral and irreproachable character of so brave, so fearless, so glorious and unparalleled a hero: and we firmly believe the cause which gave rise to the inhuman and cruel suggestions of crime were prompted through vulgar feelings of spite and jealousy in his rising to such a high rank of distinction in the British Army: and, while we have taken the most reliable and trustworthy evidence from every accessible and conceivable source, have without hesitation come to the conclusion that there is not visible the slightest particle of truth in foundation of any crime, and we find the late Sir Hector MacDonald has been cruelly assassinated by vile and slandering tongues. While honourably acquitting the late Sir Hector MacDonald of any charge whatsoever, we cannot but deplore the sad circumstances of the case that have fallen so disastrously on one whom we have found innocent of any crime attributed to him.

"Fighting Mac" remains a national hero in Scotland. A 100 ft high memorial was erected above Dingwall in 1907, as well as another memorial at Mulbuie on the Black Isle, near where MacDonald was born. In March 1911, the Ashburton Guardian reported that MacDonald had been seen in Manchuria, and another report that a non-commissioned officer who had served with MacDonald in India and Egypt had seen him breakfasting at the Astor House in Shanghai two years earlier. During the First World War the German High Command attempted to capitalise on his continuing popularity among Scottish rank and file in the British Army by fostering rumours that their own General August von Mackensen was really MacDonald.

Over a century after his death it is widely asserted by his many modern supporters that the crofter's son was the victim of a conspiracy by the English Establishment, motivated by jealousy and snobbery, with the allegations of homosexuality a total fabrication. Yet MacDonald's sexuality had in fact been a concern to his superiors even before Ceylon. In 1900 Roberts and Kitchener had discussed rumours of an involvement between Sir Hector and a Boer prisoner in South Africa, and two years later Kitchener mentioned his uneasiness over the General's behaviour while posted in India. His treatment at the hands of the British Establishment was almost certainly influenced by his status as an outsider, the son of a Scottish crofter. Hyam says that there were comparable rumours about other commanders, including "Chinese" Gordon and Field Marshals Montgomery and Auchinleck, but they were protected by the loyalty of their staff; only MacDonald was required to face a court martial. A clergyman at the time commented: "Had he been the son of a duke, an easier way of escape could have been made for him."