Cuckoo - MacDonald Terrace in Mombasa, so named after the Medical Officer of Health for town and port. "Old Mac" as he was affectionately known to all, was one of the earliest pioneers, a general favourite and somewhat of a local character. He went to EA in 1889 in the Company's service and was placed in medical charge of headquarters on the island; later being absorbed by the F.O. at the transfer of the territory from the Chartered Company. He was a Scot of huge proportions, genial and excellent company. He consistently refused home leave, dying on the island [wrong] after a continuous residence there lasting over 30 years. Remembering the unhealthy reputation of the place in those days, this record is little short of astounding. "Old Mac" was never known to be "sick or sorry." It was ripe old age rather than tropical disease or bad climate conditions, which brought his life to an end.  

EAHB 1905 - Principal Medical Officer, IBEA Co. 1889; Africa War medal and clasp, Witu 1890; Corresponding Member of Royal Scottish Geographical Society, 1892; Principal Medical Officer, EAP, 1895; clasp Mweli 1895; Letter of thanks from Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for services to wounded of Naval Brigade, Mazrui rebellion 1895; present at Bombardment of Zanzibar; received thanks of H.H. Sultan Hamoud and was presented with sword, 1896; Member of the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar, 1896; in medical charge of Anglo-German boundary delimitation, 1898; East and Central Africa Queen's medal with clasp (Uganda) 1897-98; Africa general service King's medal with clasp Uganda 1900; IBEA service medal, 1902; Medical Officer of Health, 1903.   

Red 25 - Principal Medical Officer, IBEA Co. 1889, PMO, EA Protectorate 1895-1903

The African Standard - 26-2-1903 - Invited to the wedding of H.R. Phelips & Miss Jacquette Edith Lambe in Mombasa

North - Former Surgeon Major, IMS; Acting Consul-General Zanzibar 27/3/1898; Appt. IBEA Co. 1889; Mombasa June 1893, July 1894; Appt. direct to EAP 1/7/1895, Chief Med. Officer; based at Mombasa Nov. 1895; Med. Officer of Anglo-German Boundary Commission 1898; Principal Medical Officer June, Dec 1899; Appt. Health Officer Mombasa 1/4/1903; "of huge proportions, genial & excellent company"

Playne - The Medical Officer of Health was one of the officials taken over from the IBEA Co. whose service Mr MacDonald entered as Principal Medical Officer 20 years ago. He was appointed to his present post in 1903 (April 1st). Mr MacDonald has the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar (1898); Africa General Service medal with clasp, Witu, 1890; clasp, Mwele, 1895; East and Central Africa medal with clasp, Uganda 1897-98; Africa General Service medal with clasp, Uganda, 1900; Imperial British East Africa Service medal, 1902

Drumkey - May 9 1908 - A very representative gathering of the residents of Mombasa presented Dr. W.H.B. Macdonald with a testimonial on his retirement from the Government Medical Service.

Drumkey 1909 - Medical Dept. - Medical Officer of Health

IBEA Co. - Nominal List of British Born Subjects resident in IBEA Territories within the Sultans Domain, 30 April 1891 - Dr. W.H.B. MacDonald, Scotland, MO Mombasa

Carman - The first Principal Medical Officer to the East African Protectorate was Dr. Macdonald with Dr. B.L. Hinde and Dr. Mann under him.

Gazette - 1/3/16 - Obituary - Dr. Walter Haliburton MacDonald - temp. Lieut. RAMC, died Edinburgh of acute appendicitis.

Nicholls - Macdonald was a huge man who married a nursing sister in Mombasa hospital, another person of impressive size.

North - 'I cannot conscientiously recommend any scheme which does not include the removal of Dr Macdonald from the post of PMO' (Eliot, FO 2); 'Not a man I admire at all, but still, he is friendly and kind which covers a multitude of sins' (Moffat, RH)

EA Diary 1902 - Listed as Principal Medical Officer

EA Diary 1903 - Principal Medical Officer, Imperial British East Africa Co. Oct 1889; EA Protectorate July 1895; Member of the Order of Brilliant Star of Zanzibar; African War medal and clasp 1890; medal and clasp 1895; East & Central Africa medal 1897-8; Nandi clasp 1900; IBEA Co's medal 1890; African General medal 1901

Web DNW - He served with IBEA Co. forces in the Witu expedition of 1890 and was PMO in the operations against Mbaruk in 1895. He was present at the bombardment of Zanzibar in 1896 and received the thanks of the Sultan, was presented with a sword (1896) and received the Order of the Brilliant Sta (1898). MacDonald was present in the operations in Uganda during 1897-98 and was Medical Officer of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission of 1898. He was involved in the operations in Nandi country during 1900 and in operations against the Ogaden Somalis during 1900-01. Following his services in combatting the plague which had broken out in Nairobi in 1902, he received a letter of thanks from the Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Cuckoo - Port & Medical Officer of Health, Mombasa 1904

EAHB 1905 - Health Officer, Mombasa.

IBEA Co. General Africa Staff - appointed 22nd October 1889

Web - Dix Noonan Webb - Medal Auctions - The rare and unusual group of six to Dr W. H. B. MacDonald, Principal Medical Officer in the Imperial British East Africa Company East and West Africa 1887-1900, 1 clasp, Witu 1890 (Dr., British E. Africa Co.); East and West Africa 1887-1900, for Mwele 1895, unnamed; East and Central Africa 1897-99, 1 clasp, Uganda 1897-98 (Dr.); Africa General Service 1902-56, 2 clasps, Uganda 1900, Jubaland (Doctor, E. Afr. Prot.); Imperial British East Africa Company Medal 1888-95, unnamed, swivel ring suspension; Zanzibar, Order of the Brilliant Star, 2nd Class breast star, 89mm., silver, silver-gilt and enamel, catch missing, in Elkington, London case of issue, minor enamel damage, good very fine and better (6) £3000-3500

Walter Halliburton Babington MacDonald was born at Fort William, Scotland. Studying Medicine, he gained the L.R.C.P., L.R.S. (Edinburgh) and L.F.P.S. (Glasgow, 1888), and was a Medallist in Chemistry and in Medical Jurispudence. A former Surgeon Major in the Indian Medical Service, he was Acting Consul-General at Zanzibar, 1888. He was appointed Principal Medical Officer in the Imperial British East Africa Company in 1889, based in Mombasa. He served with I.B.E.A. Co. forces in the Witu expedition of 1890 and was P.M.O. in the operations against Mbaruk in 1895. He was present at the bombardment of Zanzibar in 1896 and received the thanks of the Sultan, was presented with a sword (1896) and received the Order of the Brilliant Star (1898).

MacDonald was present in the operations in Uganda during 1897-98 and was Medical Officer of the Anglo-German Boundary Commission of 1898. He was involved in the operations in Nandi country during 1900 and in operations against the Ogaden Somalis during 1900-01. Following his services in combatting the plague which had broken out in Nairobi in 1902, he received a letter of thanks from the Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

Old Africa - 22-11-16 - Christine Nicholls - When the Imperial British East Africa Company began to trade in East Africa in the early 1890s, there was a need for a hospital for Europeans, prone to fall sick so easily in a country with an unfamiliar climate, where malaria was still imperfectly understood. IBEAC appointed Dr WH Macdonald, registered as a medical doctor in Edinburgh in 1889, to be Mombasa’s doctor. Then the Company received a donation to build a church and hospital. The Roman Catholic Holy Ghost Fathers were given the running of it, under the supervision of the Chief Medical Officer, Dr WH Macdonald. In the same year the British Government took over the administration of the East Africa Protectorate, and with it the management of the hospital.

Macdonald now worked for the government and had as his assistants three sisters of the Order of St Joseph de Cluny, from France. They were Mother Auxanne Maugee, from Martinique, who was in charge, Sister Benilda Houston from Donegal in Ireland, and Sister James Hearty from Scotland. This mixed band manned the hospital until 1901, when they handed over to lay sisters arriving from England on 1 November. Mother Auxanne died in France in 1902. A plaque in her memory was placed in the Holy Ghost Cathedral in Mombasa and later moved to the hospital. The other two sisters went to the Seychelles.

Macdonald was not thought highly of as a doctor. The High Commissioner Eliot said, ‘I cannot conscientiously recommend any scheme which does not include the removal of Dr Macdonald from the post of PMO.’ A missionary doctor at Kibwezi, RA Moffat (David Livingstone’s father-in-law was his grandfather), said of him: ‘Not a man I admire at all, but still, he is friendly and kind which covers a multitude of sins.’ Macdonald was forced to resign in 1907 because he was ‘no longer qualified for the post’.

Career: PMO, IBEAC (1889-95); MO Anglo-German Boundary Delimitation Committee (1898); PMO Kenya (1895-1903); MO Kenya (1903-08); private practice Kenya (1908-C.1914); temporary commission RAMC (1914-1915); MO in charge of the troops of the Forth Defences, Scotland (1915-16)

David Macleod He retired in 1910 and went on a world tour. 

Strathearn Herald 5 Feb 1916 The funeral to the Dean Cemetery was held with full military honours. Detachments represented the King's Own Scottish Bcrderers, the Royal Engineers and the Royal
Field Artillery, to which Lieutenant Macdonald was formerly attached, supplied the gun-carriage, which was driven by four officers. The coffin was covered by the Union Jack, to which were pinned the late officer's medals and decorations, and on which rested his sword and cap. Colonel the Rev. Dr McClymont conducted an impressive service at the mortuary chapel of the hospital, and the cortege slowly left ta the mournful strains of the "Flowers o' the Forest" from the pipers of the Highland Light lnfantry. Nearing the cemetery the "Land o' the Leal" wafted gently on the breeze of a briiliant January afternoon, and the coffin was carried shoulder-high to the graveside, scarcely 20 yards from his fellow-countryman, Sir Hector Macdonald. A short prayer preceded the firing of three volleys, and the "Last Post" rang out clear and solemn. Simple in hi: life he desired no fuss at his death, but merely that the pipes might ptay "Lochaber No More" over his grave. Passionately attached to the music of the North, he had sung some lines af the song the night before he died, and his wish was gratified by the pathetic notes of this plaintive dirge. Among those present were his widow and his two sisters, Misses Elizabeth and Catherine Macdonald, Lochalsh; Mr lan McKenzie (nephew), Lochalsh; Mr Walter C. Burton
{cousin}, Glasgow, and a large number of officers. Wreaths were received from General Rourke and officers of the R.A.M.C., officers and men of the 49th Coy., Royal Engineers, officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers Mess, North Queensferry; Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchison and officers Royal Field Artillery, Redford, in addition to many from private friends. Tall, stalwart, and commanding in his appearance, he was most lovable in his disposition. His affection for matters Highland endeared him to his countrymen far and wide, and the gallant soul, who passed away in harness at the end of an arduous and faithful service, and sleeps in peace among many other Empire builders, will have struck a responsive chord in their hearts when he whispered as the shadows fell: "Maybe l'll return To Lochaber no more."