Macdonald, Malcolm John (1901–1981)

British administrator. An MP from 1929–45, he entered Parliament as a Labour member, but sat as National Labour member from 1931–35, and a National Government member from 1936–45. He held a number of junior posts in pre-war governments, including that of Dominion Secretary (1935–39), but is best known as an administrator.

He was the son of James Ramsay Macdonald, and was educated at Bedales School and Queen's College, Oxford. He was minister of health (1940–41), British high commissioner in Canada (1941–46), governor-general of Malaya, Singapore, and British Borneo (1946–48), and commissioner-general for the UK in South-East Asia (1948–55). From 1955–60 Macdonald was British high commissioner in India. In Kenya he was governor-general in 1963, and subsequently high commissioner. In 1965 he was given a roving commission in East Africa. His publications include Borneo People (1956), Angkor (1958), Birds in the Sun (1962), People and Places (1969), and Titans and Others (1972).