Donald Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie


The Hon. Donald Mackenzie, Lord Mackenzie FRSE was a Scottish law lord who served as a Senator of the College of Justice in Edinburgh.

Early life

Donald Mackenzie was born 22 June 1818, the only son of Margaret Robina Jamieson, daughter of the Rev. John Jamieson, DD, author of the Scottish National Dictionary, and Capt. Donald Mackenzie, of the 21st Fusiliers. In early life the family lived at 39 George Square in south Edinburgh.
He studied at the Loretto School and the University of Edinburgh. He originally studied medicine, graduating with an MD at the University of Edinburgh in 1838, and became a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians and also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. Mackenzie never practised as a physician, instead, yielding to his mother's wishes, he took up the study of the law.

Legal career and Later Life

Mackenzie was admitted as an advocate to the Scottish bar in 1842. He was Advocate Depute from 1854 to 1858, and again from 1859 to 1861. He served as the Sheriff of Fifeshire from 1861 to 1870. On 16 March 1870, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Session in Scotland, under the name Lord Mackenzie.
Mackenzie's Edinburgh Georgian townhouse was at 24 Heriot Row, in the New Town.
In 1870 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being his legal colleague, Charles Neaves, Lord Neaves.
Mackenzie died at Maulside, Dulwich Wood Park, Norwood, outside London, England, on 19 May 1875. Due to ill health he had taken a leave of absence from his duties at the College of Justice a short time before his death. He is buried in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh, Scotland. The grave lies on the western wall in the section known as "Lord's Row".

Family

On 6 September 1843, Mackenzie married Janet Alice Mitchell, the daughter of Andrew Mitchell, Esq. of Maulside, Ayrshire. The couple had 12 children.