Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Macdonald, John (fl.1778)
MACDONALD, JOHN (fl. 1778), gentleman's servant, born in 1741 in the parish of Urquhart, Inverness-shire, was son of a cattle-dealer, who, joining the rebels in 1745, was killed at Culloden, and left his family in beggary. After a youth spent in a variety of vagabond occupations, John showed an attractive personality, became a gentleman's servant, and soon achieved an unenviable notoriety as Beau Macdonald. In 1768, through the kind offices of a fellow-countryman, William Boyd, servant to David Hume, he obtained a place under a Colonel Dow, an mate friend of James Macpherson, with whom he spent several years at Bombay. He subsequently travelled over Europe and Asia with his employers until 177S, whom he married and settled down at Toledo. His 'Travels in Various Parts,' written by himself, published in London in 1790. According to this racy narrative, Macdonald, while in London with his master, Mr. Crawford of Errol. was sent to inquire after the health of Laurence Sterne, and found the novelist on his deathbed. He claims to have been among the first to walk in London with an umbrella.
[Macdonald's Travels, 1780.]