Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/McLeod, Donald Friell
McLEOD, Sir DONALD FRIELL (1810–1872), Indian administrator, born at Fort William, Calcutta, 6 May 1810, was son of Lieutenant-general Duncan McLeod (1780-1856), by Henrietta C. L. Friell, who was descended maternally from the French family of Boileau of Castelnau. The father, of the family of Neil McLeod [q. v.] of Assynt, born in 1780 (according to his aye given at death), enterea the army as cadet in 1794, and became second lieutenant in the Bengal engineers 28 Nov. 1795. His subsequent steps in the same corps were : lieutenant 13 Nov. 1803, captain 9 Feb. 1810, major 1 Dec. 1826, lieutenant-colonel 28 Sept. 1827, colonel 18 June 1831, major-general 23 Nov. 1841, lieutenant-general 11 Nov. 1851. He was a skilful engineer; he designed the Moorshedabad Palace and the bridge over the Goomty at Lucknow. He succeeded Sir Thomas Auburey as chief engineer for Bengal, and retiring to England became a director of the Agra Bank. He died at 3 Clifton Place, Hyde Park, London, 8 June 1856.
Donald came to England in 1814, lived with his grandfather, Donald McLeod, at the family property of Glanies, and in October 1819 entered the high school at Edinburgh. He was removed to a private school at Dulwich the following year, and thence to Dr. Carmalt's at Putney, where Canning was a schoolfellow. In 1826 he entered Haileybury, where he became a friend of John Lawrence, and on 10 Dec. 1828 reached Calcutta. For a time he was stationed at Monghyr in Bengal, but in 1831 passed a short time with Colonel William (afterwards Sir William) Sleeman on the special service created by Lord William Bentinck for the suppression of the thugs and dacoits. The same year he was removed to Saugor and Nerbudda as administrator, this district having been ceded by the Mahrattas in 1817-18 after the Pindaree war; and there he remained till 1840, when he assumed the special charge of the Jubbulpore district. He had become a baptist and gave away a large part of his income, interesting himself greatly in the question of native education. The requirements of the Afghan war drained the hill districts of Central India of troops, and, disturbances having arisen among the natives, Lord Ellenborough, by an order of 15 March 1843, reorganised the Saugor and Nerbudda districts, dispensing with McLeod's services there. He was accordingly appointed in the same year collector and magistrate for Benares, and in 1849 succeeded John Lawrence as commissioner at Jellunder of the Sikh territory known as the Trans-Sutlej States, Lawrence joining the governing board of the newly annexed Punjab. Under McLeod served Major Herbert (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes [q. v.] In 1854 he became financial commissioner of the Punjab, and on 18 April 1866 the court of directors acknowledged his services to native education in a minute. At Lahore, where he succeeded Edmondstone, he remained throughout the mutiny, and at its close in 1858 was created C.B. In 1859 he returned to England, but was back at Lahore the following year, and was president of the Famine Relief Committee in 1861. In January. 1865 he became, by Lawrence's recommendation, lieutenant-governor of the Punjab. He was made K.C.S.I. in 1866, and retired in 1870. Returning to England he interested himself in philanthropic movements, and was chairman of the Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi railway. He died 28 Nov. 1872 in St. George's Hospital, London, from the results of an accient on the Metropolitan Railway, and was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. In 1854 he married Fanny, daughter of Sir Robert Montgomery [q. v.], who died the following year without issue.
McLeod was a sincerely religious man, but somewhat dilatory in business matters. Lawrence knew him well, and used to call him 'the Cunctator.' He has left an amusing sketch of McLeod's character in a letter (1 Aug. 1853) to Edwardes : 'Morally and intellectually he has no superior in the Punjab, perhaps no equal But as an administrator he is behind Edmondstone, Raikes, and even Burnes. He is too fond of polishing. . . . He wastes much time on unimportant matters. . . . Donald spends half the day in writing elegant demi-official chits.' On the other hand, very few administrators have managed, as McLeod managed, to gain the esteem of both natives and Europeans. A portrait of him is at Lahore, and represents the testimonial of the English in the Punjab at the close of his governorship.
[Memoir by Lake ; Bosworth Smith's Life of Lawrence, i. 25, 345, 355, 376, ii. 323, 329, 444; Kaye and Malleson's Hist, of the Sepoy War, i. 38, 47, ii. 321, vi. 119; Laurie's Distinguished Anglo-Indians, 1st ser. viii. 207-8, 212-13, 2nd ser. ii.; Short Essays and Reviews, reprinted from the Englishman, 1866; Annual Register, 1872; Times, 30 Nov., 2, 4, 5, 7 Dec. 1872. For the father: Dodwell and Miles's Indian Army List, p. 178; Gent. Mag. 1856, ii. 126; East India Register.]