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When Hector Macdonald’s will was made public after his tragic death by his own hand in a Paris hotel, clause 8 caught the attention of many newspaper reporters – “My charger ‘Knowall’ is to be shot”.

According to his last will and testament, written at Umballa, India, on 27 December 1899, two of the horse's hooves were to be mounted and one given to his son, Hector, and the other to General Sir Charles D'Aguilar. In the event, “Knowall” was not shot, but instead purchased by Mr Alfred J.R. de Soysa, a wealthy Ceylonese landowner. After the charger’s demise by natural causes in 1905, de Soysa entrusted the preparation of the hooves to a local taxidermist, and they were then forwarded to Lady Macdonald in Scotland.

The fact that Sir Charles D'Aguilar was named as one of the recipients initially seemed perplexing. That is, until research revealed that his son, Lieutenant George C.C. D’Aguilar, whilst serving with the Egyptian Army, had died from acute pneumonia at Waddy Halfa in January 1894. At this time, Fighting Mac, or “The Kaimakan MacDonald” as he was then known, commanded the 2nd Egyptian Infantry at Waddy Halfa. It seems that “Knowall” had originally belonged to Lieutenant D'Aguilar, and that Macdonald took possession of the horse on his death. Thus, the return of one of the hooves to the young lieutenant’s father was an act of remembrance.

The above scenario seems to be corroborated by a fragment of paper inside the D’Aguilar hoof which has the ink inscription: “…. Hector Mcdonald, Wady Halfa, Egypt, 25th January 1894”. Lieutenant D’Aguilar died on 25th January.

“Knowall” had a close shave at Paardeberg, on 18th February 1900. Hector Macdonald was shot from his charger while making a reconnaissance with his A.D.C., Captain Wigham. In a letter to Mrs Macleod of Cadboll he explained that “the bullet entered the outside of my left foot, just under the ankle joint and came out at the other side a little lower down – a very clean wound, which if caused by a Martini bullet, would have cost me my foot”. One newspaper mistakenly reported that ‘Knowall’ “was killed on the day the distinguished general was taken to the Hospital. A Boer shell did the deed”.

The two silver-mounted hooves appeared on the market thirteen years apart, in 2010 and 2023, and have now been reunited. The Ceylonese taxidermist unusually decided to mount the memorials with the shoes facing upwards, the spaces under the hinged lids being so tight that it’s difficult to imagine their purpose. As is to be expected with Indian and Ceylonese silver, the mounts have no silver marks.





1. "The hoof of 'Knowall' / charger of the late / Major General / Sir Hector Mac Donald / Purchased by / Mr A.J.R. de Soysa / Colombo Ceylon and / Presented to / Mr Hector Duncan Macdonald / October / 1905".

2. "The hoof of 'Knowall' / charger of the late / Major General / Sir Hector Mac Donald / purchased by / Mr A.J.R. de Soysa / Colombo Ceylon and / Presented to / General / Sir Charles D'Aguilar / G.C.B. / October 1905".





The D'Aguilar hoof, showing the unusual silver mountings. The space below the Indian silver lid is very tight, allowing only for the insertion of a piece of paper, the surviving fragment of which is inscribed “…. Hector Mcdonald, Wady Halfa, Egypt, 25th January 1894”. It seems the local Ceylonese taxidermist was unaware of the normal practice of mounting hooves the correct way up, with the shoes at the base.









A page from Hector Macdonald's last will and testament. Clause 6 reads: "It is my desire, and should be carried out if possible, that one of the hoofs of my old charger 'Knowall' should be mounted and given to General Sir Charles D'Aguilar G.C.B. and that one should be mounted and kept as an heirloom by my son Hector"; and Clause 8, "My charger 'Knowall' to be shot".










Liverpool Evening Express, 30th July 1903

FIGHTING MAC’S CHARGER.

Under the will of the late Sir Hector Macdonald directions were given that his well-known charger should be shot, the hoofs being preserved as mementoes. Before the contents on the will were known in Ceylon the animal was sold (says the “Daily Chronicle”) to Mr A.R. de Soysa, a wealthy Sinhalese gentleman. He has now intimated his readiness to hand over the horse to Lady Macdonald on condition that it is not killed, or on the other hand to retain it, undertaking that whenever the death of the animal (which is now in Ceylon) shall take place the hoofs shall be forwarded to the son of the late general.


The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1889-1931), Thursday 13 August 1903.

Sir Hector Macdonald's will – dated Umballa, December 27, 1899, just before he proceeded to South Africa – was proved at Edinburgh last month. The total movable estate amounts to £4,402. Sir Hector bequeathed all he was possessed of to his son, Hector, and directed him to keep the following articles as heirlooms: – Portrait of her late Majesty, presented to Sir Hector by the Queen. Casket containing addresses, presented to him by various towns and associations. Presentation swords of honour. War medals and decorations. The thanks on vellum of both Houses of Parliament. His old charger, Knowall, he directed to be shot, desiring that one of the hoofs should be mounted and given to General Sir Charles D'Aguilar, and another mounted and kept as an heirloom by his son. No mention of Lady Macdonald is made in the document.


Ohinemuri Gazette (New Zealand), Volume XIII, Issue 1143, 28 August 1903.

Sir Hector Macdonald's Will.

HEIRLOOMS TO HIS SON.

HIS CHARGER TO BE SHOT.

The inventory of personal estate of Sir Hector Archibald Macdonald, K.C.B., D.S.O, Brigadier-General, and deed relative to the proposal thereof have been presented at the Commissary Office, Edinburgh. For the most part deceased officer's money was in Russian, Uruguay, Argentine, Japanese, and South Bank bonds and amounted to £4,402, including £875 in cash in the hands of his London bankers, Messrs Cox and Co. By his last will and testament, which is in his own handwriting, he appointed W. Turner Wigan, Junction Colliery, guardian of his son, Hector, but Mr Turner predeceased the testator. By the second clause of his will, after payment of his just debts, he bequeathed all he was possessed of to his son Hector, through his guardian. In the fifth clause he said it was his desire that the following should be kept as heirlooms by his son Hector – portrait of Her Majesty presented to him by the Queen; caskets containing the freedom of the town of Dingwall; the address from the Highland clans, Glasgow ; sword of an aide-de-camp of the Queen presented by the people of Ross and Cromarty; sword of honour presented by the Macdonald Society; claymore presented by the officers of the 92nd Gordon Highlanders; album presented by the Aberdeen Highland Association, Tain, Invergordon, and "the people of my birthplace"; dirk and skene dhu given him by his old comrades the sergeants of the 92nd; cigar box fitted with old Gordon Highlanders badges; pictures of the funeral of “Puir Auld Ninety-twa" in 1881 at the Drakensburg, South Africa; his medals and decorations; the thanks in vellum of both houses of Parliament; a watch pendant in memory of 1896 in the Soudan, his watch, and chain and appendages. He also expressed his desire, if possible, that one of the hoofs of his old charger, 'Knowall', should be mounted and given to General Sir Charles D’Aguilar, G.C.B., and that one should be mounted and kept as an heirloom by his son Hector.

The remainder of his goods he directed should be sold for the benefit of his son Hector, with the following exceptions, which were not to be sold: – Plate, the Mahdi’s banner, selected pictures, chain armour, stationery racks, swords, spears. The eighth and concluding clause is as follows: – "My charger 'Knowall', is to be shot". The will bore to be signed at Umballa before proceeding on active service to South Africa December 22, 1899. The probate paid amounted to £121. Mr Turner having predeceased General Macdonald, the guardianship falls naturally to Lady Macdonald.


The New York Times, July 26, 1903

GEN. MACDONALD’S WILL

The will of Gen. Sir Hector Macdonald has been lodged in Edinburgh. The General left £4,402 in Russian, Uruguayan, Argentine, and African bank shares and bonds, with a balance at his bankers of £875.
The testator bequeathed everything to his son Hector. The swords and addresses, of which quite a number are specified, are left to the son as heirlooms. Sir Hector directed that his old charger Knowall should be shot, that one hoof be mounted and given to Gen. Sir Charles d’Aguilar, and that the other be kept by his son. The testator’s goods are to be sold for his son’s benefit, except the banner which was captured from the Mahdi, some African swords and spears, and a few other articles.
The will was signed at Umballa on Dec. 27, 1899, before Gen. Macdonald proceeded to South Africa on active service.


Dundee Courier, 28th March 1905

HECTOR MACDONALD’S CHARGER.

The late Sir Hector Macdonald’s favourite charger, “Know All”, has died from natural causes in Ceylon. The animal’s last owner, Mr A.J.R. de Soysa, has entrusted the preparation of the hoofs to a taxidermist. They will be forwarded to Lady Macdonald in Scotland.


FIGHTING MAC

The Downfall of Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald

(Trevor Royle, 1982, pp.110 & 111)

The Battle of Paardeberg

By the end of the day (18th February, 1900) there were 1,262 British casualties including Hector Macdonald who had been shot from his charger, ‘Knowall’, while making a reconnaissance with his A.D.C. Captain Wigham. In a letter to Mrs Macleod of Cadboll he explained that “the bullet entered the outside of my left foot, just under the ankle joint and came out at the other side a little lower down – a very clean wound, which if caused by a Martini bullet, would have cost me my foot”.

His wound, though not serious, took a long time to heal and it effectively ended his war in South Africa.
Mild hysteria followed the news of the wounding of so popular a soldier – one paper even reported in sombre tones that ‘Knowall’, Macdonald’s charger, “was killed on the day the distinguished general was taken to the Hospital. A Boer shell did the deed.”












Lincolnshire Echo, 31st January 1894

The death at Waddy Halfa last week, from acute pneumonia, of Lieutenant George Charles Clyde D’Aguilar deprives the army of one of the smartest and most promising cavalry officers, and entails upon that gallant veteran, General Sir Charles D’Aguilar, G.C.B., the loss of his only son. Unhappily this is not the only sorrow that our occupation of Egypt has caused to Sir Charles and Lady D’Aguilar. A few years ago their younger daughter, the wife – and indeed almost the bride – of Colonel Wodehouse, R.A., succumbed to an attack of fever immediately after her arrival at Cairo.


Pall Mall Gazette, 6th January 1894

“The Kaimakan MacDonald”, whose regiment, the 2nd Egyptian Infantry, now at Wady Halfa, has been so warmly praised by the Turkish Commissioner El Ghazi Mukhtar Pasha, is a very well-known and gallant officer of our army, to wit, Major Hector Archibald MacDonald, D.S.O., of the Royal Fusiliers. The Kaimakan’s record is a singularly brilliant one. After a service career of over nine years in the ranks, MacDonald, then a sergeant, was given a commission in the Gordon Highlanders for the conspicuous gallantry he displayed in the Afghan war. He subsequently went through the whole Transvaal campaign of 1881, and will be well remembered as Garrison Adjutant at Assiout during the Nile Expedition of 1885. In the latter year he joined for three years the Egyptian Constabulary, and since 1888 has been attached to the Egyptian Army, seeing a good deal more active service, and winning a third mention in despatches, promotion to a vacant majority in the Royal Fusiliers, the D.S.O., the 3rd class Medjidie, and the 3rd class Osmanieh. From sergeant in 1880 to all this and the command of even an Egyptian regiment in 1893, is a quick rise indeed, but the Kaimakan MacDonald is certainly not grudging his advancement by any who know what a good and gallant Highlander he is.


Yorkshire Gazette, 18th July 1903

General D’Aguilar.

General Sir C.L. D’Aguilar, to whom “Fighting Mac” bequeaths a mounted hoof of his charger, Knowall, is a Crimean veteran, whose horse was shot under him at Inkerman, and who served at the siege of Sebastopol. In the Indian Mutiny he commanded the artillery of General Frank’s force at the action of Secundra, and also the Royal Horse Artillery at the siege and capture of Lucknow, where he won his brevet of Colonel.






Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries and Resources (Arnold Wright, Ed., 1907)

ALFRED JOSEPH RICHARD DE SOYSA

Mr Alfred Joseph Richard de Soysa is the second son of the late Mr Charles Henry de Soysa, J.P., and Lady de Soysa, of Alfred House, Colombo, and was born at Brodie House, Bambalapitiya, on February 15, 1869. He was educated at St. Thomas’s College, Colombo (1878), Prince of Wales’s College, Moratuwa (1880), and the Royal College, Colombo (1884-1886). In July, 1886, he proceeded to England for further education at the private institute of Highbury House, St. Leonards-on-Sea, where he distinguished himself as a runner by winning the silver challenge cup for the 220 yards race at Highbury House school sports in 1888. He also took a great interest in school theatricals. From Highbury House he proceeded, in 1888, to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, with a view to obtaining a degree in music. He had to return to Ceylon in 1890, after his father’s unexpected death, and assisted in the management of the estate. About this period he became a member of the Royal Asiatic Society. He is the sole owner of large estates, covering in all 3,210 acres, planted with coconuts, rubber, and tea, in the North-Western, Central, and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, viz., Kirimetiana, Keenakelle, Horatapola, Diadora, Paragamana, Medarawakka, Madawalatenne, Tatuwelakande, Kuda Oya, and Kottugoda paddy fields of 79 acres in extent. He is also part-owner of the tea estates of Hapugasmulla and Marigold in the Central Province, and of the Kuteriyawalla Estate in the Western Province, the latter planted with cinnamon and coconuts. He is a member of the Colombo Harbour Board, having been nominated to that position by His Excellency the Governor in 1898, and is also a member of the Turf Club of Ceylon. In 1893 he founded and endowed the Jusey de Silva ward at the Lady Havelock Hospital, in memory of the late Chevalier Jusey de Silva, his maternal grandfather. He was one of the largest contributors to and collectors for the Indian Famine Fund in 1897, and subscribed Rs. 5,000 to the Inundation Relief Fund of Colombo, 1904. On February 4, 1892, he married Mary Margaret, daughter of Mr and Mrs L. David de Silva, of Henley House, Cinnamon Gardens. Mr de Soysa’s private residence is “Glen Aber”, Bambalapitiya, and his Colombo office is at No. 4, Queen Street, Fort, while he has a country residence on the Kirimetianna Estate, Kurunegala. He is a landed proprietor in Colombo and Kandy, and is a gentleman held in high esteem throughout the island. He is an ardent motorist.





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Neville, thank you for this interesting and well researched post. Congratulations on reuniting these fantastic historic items!
Maj. General Hector MacDonald in full ornate by Elliott & Fry

I'm visiting Paris soon, and would like to visit the hotel where he shot himself to pay my respects. Are details known?

Orcadian 28 March 1903



en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%B4tel_R%C3%A9gina

Room 105,
First Floor,
Hotel Regina,
Corner of Rue de Rivoli and Place des Pyramides,
Paris.

(overlooking the Tuileries Gardens, near the Louvre)


Room 105 is described as an unimposing bedroom on the first floor at the back of the hotel.


Trevor Royle notes that in the visitors book he signed himself simply “H.A. Macdonald, London”. I assume this observation indicates that the hotel still has the visitors book for 1903. He arrived in Paris on 20th March.

Five days later he read the headline on the front page of the New York Herald “GRAVE CHARGE LIES ON SIR HECTOR MACDONALD; NOT AMENABLE TO LAW IN CEYLON HE SAILS FOR ENGLAND TO MEET THE CHARGE”. His fate sealed, he returned to his room, and in Trevor Royle’s words, which repeat almost verbatim the Governor of Ceylon, Sir Joseph Ridgeway’s report “methodical to the last, he tidied his belongings and emptied his pockets on to the sidetable where also stood two unopened letters and the official signal from the War Office. He then removed his jacket and hung it in the wardrobe, and in a final gesture to the neatness that had characterised his life he took off his boots and put them under his bed. Then taking from his valise the small calibre eight millimetre gun he had probably bought the previous day, he checked the cylinder, and standing in front of the mirror he lifted the pistol to his right ear and pulled the trigger” (Royle, T, Fighting Mac. The Downfall of Major-General Sir Hector Macdonald, Edinburgh 2003).






https://www.regina-hotel.com/en/

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Neville - I love the precision - I presume there is not a plaque in Room 105.