condly, 30 Sept. 1831, Mary, eldest daughter of John Stuart, sheriff of Johnstown district, Upper Canada (she died in 1845). MacNab had four daughters, two by each wife. The elder daughter by his second wife is now Countess of Albemarle.
[Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 1864, under 'MacNab' (extinct); biography, with vignette portrait, in Appleton's Encycl. Amer. Biog.; Army Lists. For particulars of MacNab's services in the rebellion of 1837-8, see Annual Registers under dates, and Sir F. B. Head's Emigrant]
MACNAB, HENRY GRAY or GREY (1761–1823), publicist, was of Scottish extraction, but was born in England in 1761. He seems to have been connected with the Glasgow University, though he held no professorship, and was the friend and disciple of Thomas Reid [q. v.] Visiting France on the conclusion of the treaty of Amiens, he was detained on the resumption of hostilities, and settled at Montpellier to continue his medical studies. On the restoration of peace he remained in France, but interested himself in education in England, adopting some of Robert Owen's ideas, and he corresponded with the Duke of Kent, at whose solicitation he prepared an educational scheme which he intended to put in practice by opening a school in London; but before his arrangements were matured he died in Paris, 3 Feb. 1823, leaving an only child, a daughter. He was buried at Pere la Chaise.
MacNab published:
- 'A Plan of Reform in English Schools,' Glasgow, 1786.
- 'Letters on the Coal Duty and Coal Supply,' London, 1793 and 1801.
- 'Analysis and Analogy in Education,' Paris, 1818.
- 'New Views of Mr. Owen impartially examined,' London, 1819.
- 'Observations on the State of the World,' London, 1820. He left incomplete a pamphlet on premature burial.
[Revue Encyclopédique, Paris, 1823; Biog. Univ.; Gent Mag. 1823, i. 378; Alger's Englishmen in French Revolution, London, 1889.]
McNAB, WILLIAM RAMSAY, M.D. (1844–1889), botanist, born in 1844, was the only son of James McNab (1810–1878), who from 1849 to the time of his death was curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, a post which his father (William McNab) had previously held since 1810. McNab, after acting as assistant to Professor John Hutton Balfour [q. v.] at Edinburgh, and studying in Germany, graduated M.D. at Edinburgh in 1866. He began medical practice in 1867, but was appointed in 1870 to the professorship of natural history in the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, and in the following year he was the first to introduce to British students the facts and methods of Sachs. In March 1872 he was appointed to the chair of botany in the Royal College of Science, Dublin, which he held till his death from heart disease, on 3 Dec. 1889. Besides other appointments Dr. McNab was scientific superintendent of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, and at the time of his death was Swiney lecturer on geology at the British Museum. His style as a lecturer was precise, lucid, and simple. He was the author of numerous communications to various societies on all branches of botany. His more important papers were on ‘Experiments on the Movement of Water in Plants’ (‘Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,’ vol. xxxv.); ‘On the Development of the Flowers of Welwitschia mirabilis’ (‘Transactions of the Linnean Society,’ vol. xxviii.); ‘Revision of the Species of Abies’ (‘Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy,’ ii. 11). He was also the author of two botanical class-books, ‘Outlines of Morphology and Physiology,’ and ‘Outlines of Classification’ (Longman's ‘London Science Series,’ 1878).
[Obituary notice in Nature, 19 Dec. 1889, xli. 159; personal knowledge.]
MacNAGHTEN or MACNAUGHTON, JOHN (d. 1761), criminal, was son of a gentleman seated at Benvarden, near Ballymoney, co. Antrim. The father died when his son was about six, leaving him an estate worth 500l. a year. He was educated at Dublin University, but does not appear to have graduated. At college his handsome figure and insinuating address attracted the notice of Sir Clotworthy Skeffington, fourth viscount Massereene, who introduced him to the best society. His passion for gaming soon involved him in debt, but he retrieved his fortune by marrying the sister of Lord Massereene's second wife, a daughter of Henry Eyre of Rowtor, Derbyshire, whose friends made him take an oath that he would play no more. About two years later, however, he returned to the gaming-table with more disastrous results than before. An attempt to arrest him for debt so alarmed his wife, who was lying-in, that she died soon afterwards. Reduced to distress, he obtained through Massereene's good offices the place of collector of the king's duty in Coleraine, co. Londonderry, worth about 200l. a year. He gambled away more than 800l. of the king's money, and in consequence lost his collectorship, and his estate was sequestered.
At this crisis Andrew Knox of Prehen, Londonderry, M.P. for Donegal, who had known Macnaughton from a child, invited him to his house, and he at once paid his ad-
