Education
MacDonell attended Royal Military College, Sandhurst, then joined the Rifle Brigade and served in British Kaffraria 1849-1852.
MacDonell attended Royal Military College, Sandhurst, then joined the Rifle Brigade and served in British Kaffraria 1849-1852.
He left the army in 1853 and joined the diplomatic service. He was attaché at Florence, then Constantinople, then Copenhagen. He was secretary of legation at Buenos Aires, then Madrid, and secretary of embassy at Berlin 1875-1878 and at Rome 1878-1882.
He was chargé d"affaires at Munich 1882-1885, then Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil 1885-1888, to Denmark 1888-1893, and to Portugal 1893–1902.
The outbreak of war between Great Britain and the two South African republics in October 1899 raised some very difficult and delicate questions between Britain and Portugal, whose port at Delagoa Bay was directly connected with the Transvaal by rail and was the principal, if not the only, channel for supplies and external communications when access through the British colonies had been closed. MacDonell"s management of the discussions on these subjects was tactful and conciliatory, and contributed in no small degree to the maintenance of cordial relations.
