Scottish lawyer, judge and politician
Sir Archibald Macdonald, 1st Baronet (13 July 1747 – 18 May 1826) was a Scottish-born English lawyer, judge and politician.
Early life.
Macdonald was born at Armadale Castle on Skye on 13 July 1747, the posthumous son of Sir Alexander Macdonald, 7th Baronet, and his second wife, Lady Margaret Montgomerie. His elder brothers included Sir James Macdonald, 8th Baronet and Alexander Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald.
His paternal grandparents were Sir James Macdonald, 6th Baronet and the former Janet Macleod (a daughter of Alasdair MacLeod, 2nd of Grishornish). His maternal grandparents were Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton, and Susanna Kennedy (a daughter of Sir Archibald Kennedy, 1st Baronet).
He was brought to England, away from Jacobite influence and entered Westminster School in 1760. He went on to Christ Church, Oxford in 1764, graduating B.A. in 1768 and M.A. in 1772. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1770.
Career.
Macdonald was Member of Parliament for Hindon in Wiltshire, from 1777 until 1780, and then for Newcastle-under-Lyme, from 1780 to 1792, a seat where his father-in-law had a strong influence.
In politics, Macdonald followed the Whig lead of his father-in-law. He became solicitor-general in 1784 and attorney-general, and was knighted, in 1788. He served as the prosecutor in Thomas Paine's criminal libel trial over the publication of "Rights of Man" in 1792.
The 1792 Slave Trade Bill passed the House of Commons; mangled and mutilated by the modifications and amendments of Pitt, Earl of Mornington, Edward James Eliot and MacDonald, it lay for years, in the House of Lords.
Judicial career.
Macdonald was appointed as second judge of the Carmarthen circuit in Wales in 1780. He was promoted as Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1793, and served in this post until he retired in 1813, with failing eyesight. On his retirement from the court, Macdonald was created 1st Baronet Macdonald, of East Sheen, in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom, on 27 November 1813.
Personal life.
On 26 November 1777, Macdonald married Lady Louisa Leveson-Gower (1757–1827), daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford (at the time called by the courtesy title Earl Gower), then Lord President of the Council, and the former Lady Louisa Egerton (a daughter of the 1st Duke of Bridgwater). Together, they were the parents of two sons and five daughters, of which three survived:
Sir Archibald died on 18 May 1826. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only son, James.
Descendants.
Through his youngest daughter Caroline, he was a grandfather of the naval officer George Granville Randolph.
References.
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