James Macdonald (engineer)

Sir James Ronald Leslie Macdonald, KCSI, CB was a Scottish engineer, explorer and cartographer. He served as a British Army engineer, rose to the rank of BrigadierGeneral and was knighted. A balloon observer as a young man, he surveyed for railways in India and East Africa, explored the upper Nile region, commanded balloon sections during wars in South Africa and China and led a major expedition into Tibet in 19031904.

Macdonald was born onFebruary 1862 in Rajahmundry in the Madras Presidency, India, and was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and the University of Aberdeen. He passed through the Royal Military Academy and was gazetted to the Royal Engineers in 1882.

Source: Wikipedia