Born: 24 July 1880, Sligo, Ireland.
Died: 22 March 1949, Bath, England.
Father: Hercules Henry MacDonnell
Mother: Fannie Keogh Burd
Married: Ethel Gladys Jameson (d. 21 July 1973), February 1908.
Children:
Paula, m. Lt. Paul Markham Whatley, 15 December 1937.
Elizabeth, m. (?) Lt. Anthony Carver, 1939.
Felicity Anne, m. (1) Sub-Lt. Stephan Alastair Strutt (1919-1949), 17 June 1941,
m. (2) Brigadier David Campbell Mullen, 28 October 1959
Education:
Elstree
Cheltenham College
Trinity College, Dublin
Career:
1905-1912 Sudan Civil Service
1912-1923 Egyptian Civil Service
1915-1919 General Staff, E.E.F.
1920-1923 Governor Western Desert Province, Egypt
1923-1926 High Commissioner of Danzig
1931 Special Commissioner for the Transjordan frontier settlement
1932-1934 Commissioner for Transitional Payments, Co. Durham
1934 BBC representative for Saar plebiscite
Awarded an OBE
Other information:
His wife was the daughter of James Sligo Jameson, a famous naturalist and African explorer. She was Mervyn's second cousin.
From The Times, 12 April 1949:
Mervyn MacDonnell's death will be deeply regretted by many friends from whose memory his lively and trenchant personality will not easily be effaced. His caustic but humorous comments on the human comedy and the variety of experience from which he illustrated his conversation made him a delightful and unusual companion. He was one of those men in whose society one could not fail to be happy and interested. He made his mark in such diverse regions as Egypt, Danzig, and Geneva, and his talents were worthy of greater official recognition than was actually obtained.