Patrick Donald MacDonald

• Born July 21, 1909, in Bells Hill, Scotland.
• Died June, 1987. Death registered in Surrey South-Western, v. 17, p. 1313.
• Nicknamed "Paddy."
• Rose from Assistant Secretary in 1941 to Colonial Secretary--a very prestigious and important position.
  • The Colonial Secretary was virtually a dictator. The Governor was a ceremonial figure and might set policy, but the Colonial Secretary was the CEO. He had three telephones on his desk, gave orders, and approved spending. He was "pretty damn good" ( RG).
• Employed by WPHC from ~1941 to 1978.
• Took the bones from the office to Hoodless at FSM in summer of 1941.
• Colonial Secretary and in charge of boxing things up in 1978. Acting Archivist from the time that Burne retired (or quit) in 1976 until at least April 6, 1978.
• Both files and office equipment were sent to London. Lists of files were drawn up and typed. They were then packed in small archive boxes--no more than 5 files to a box. The small boxes were then stacked in a wooden packing crate. They fit perfectly, with no need of any kind of straw or other packing material.
• Tofiga remembers Paddy as "fair, firm and meticulous."
• Ron Gatty: "The Governor was a ceremonial figure and might set policy, but the Colonial Secretary was the CEO. He had three telephones on his desk, gave orders, and approved spending. Paddy was pretty damn good."
• Daughter: Veronica ("Ronnie")--Or Hillary or Sally? May have married someone named something like Gardner. She worked for BOAC and got reduced fare flights for her father. ( RG)
• May have had a part-interest in the Grand Pacific Hotel. Ron Gatty saw him there in a humble role--acting, perhaps, as the desk clerk.
• Died in the late 1990s?
• Almost certainly knew everything there was to know about the bones found on Nikumaroro.

Family

• Wife: Delia Edith MacDonald (3 Aug 1913, Westcliff, England, to November, 1994, in Hove, Sussex).
• Son: Neil Mateson MacDonald, Auckland, New Zealand. 1940 or 1941.
• Daughter: Hillary (~1947?). Hillary Roberts ("The daughter of former Fiji deputy Governor Patrick Macdonald...") lived in Bermuda until November 2007 and perhaps could be contacted through the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.
• Daughter: Sally.