(8 Aug. 1895- 26 June 1992 ), lawyer, judge. (I. M. Macdonell, Judge Ian Macdonell, Ian M. Macdonell, Ian McL. Macdonell) Born in Toronto. Parents: Alexander McLean Macdonell and his wife Jane Marion Powell. He was educated at Upper Canada College, the University of Toronto (B.A.Sc., in mining engineering), and Osgoode Hall, and in his father’s law office, where he read law. He was called to bar of Ontario, May 1920.

     Meanwhile, his preparation for a career has been interrupted by WWI. He went overseas as a lieut. in 1916, and he was demobilised at end of war as captain; he was mentioned twice in dispatches, and was awarded an MBE, and was aide-de-camp to General Sir Archibald Cameron Macdonell. The Glengarry News of 20 Sept. 1918 printed a long, remarkable letter written by General Macdonell on 26 July to Jack Greenfield (John A. Macdonell), giving the general’s views on what seemed at last to be evidence that the war was approaching its end and including notes on various men of the GC connection, including the future Judge Ian Macdonell. The General wrote, “Ian McL. Macdonell is a fine, plucky clever boy, a charming companion, plenty of brains, and I am very fond of him. He has evidently been spoilt at home and the ragging and teasing of a military mess was hard on my Lord at first, but he can hold his own with the best now.”

     Ian Macdonell had a law practice in Toronto from 1920. He was appointed county court Judge for the County of York on 18 Sept. 1933, and was made a K. C. the same year. He was appointed judge of the Surrogate Court of the County of York on 27 June 1949. During a long, crowded, successful career in the public service, he was an alderman of the City of Toronto 1926-1927, acted as a royal commissioner for the Ontario government, and as an industrial disputes commissioner for the federal government, and was chairman of the Ontario Labour Relations Board 1947. Interested in the militia, he was a lt.-col. of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, from 1936. He was master of the County Orange Lodge of Toronto in 1932. A law book on probate practice, of which he was co-author, has gone through several editions. After retiring from the bench, he returned to his former law firm as counsel. He was married 29 Jan. 1936 to Maybelle Margaret Caird Forrest. (two children) He was an Anglican.

     He inherited the bulk of the remarkable collection of historical artifacts assembled at Alexandria by his kinsman Jack Greenfield (John A. Macdonell), and he attended Greenfield’s funeral at Alexandria in 1930. Ian Macdonell was the executor of Carrie Holmes MacGillivray, another relative. He persuaded McClelland and Stewart to bring out the second edition of her novel The Shadow of Tradition, but was unable to obtain a publisher for her novel “The Prairie Star.” He was not a Glengarrian and seems to have had–the associations just mentioned notwithstanding–relatively few contacts with the county; but nevertheless, his name was well known during his years of achievement to the people who concerned themselves with Glengarry County history and genealogy, and he himself was, in his generation, the most highly visible surviving member of the great families of founding Macdonells, being himself one of the “Greenfields.” (He was also descended from the Aberchalder and Leek Macdonells and from Neil McLean.) A collection of his letters, paintings and military artifacts is in the Nor’Westers & Loyalist Museum, Williamstown.

Who’s Who in Canada 1945-46 p. 12, and 1964-65 p. 826, with much valuable detail on appointments * Canadian Who’s Who 1983 * with his brother Rex, accompanies body of aunt, Miss Agnes A. Macdonell, to Cornwall for burial, Standard Freeholder 29 April 1938 * honoured at dinner on retirement as trustee, Toronto Trust Cemeteries, Globe & Mail 13 Dec. 1975 * 40th wedding anniversary, Globe & Mail 2 Feb. 1976 * Carrie Holmes MacGillivray: his letter 14 May 1973 to present author * NL catalogue for probate law book * H. I. MacTaggart, Publications of the Government of Ontario 1901-1955 (1964) 15 (Royal Commission report by him, 1944)