Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/MacDougall, Patrick Leonard
MACDOUGALL, Sir PATRICK LEONARD (1819–1894), general, colonel of the Leinster regiment, and military author, born at Boulogne-sur-Mer, France, on 10 Aug. 1819, was son, by his first wife, of Sir Duncan MacDougall [q. v. Suppl.] Educated at the Military Academy at Edinburgh and at the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, he received a commission as second lieutenant in the Ceylon rifle regiment on 13 Feb. 1836, in July exchanged into the 79th Cameron highlanders, and on 26 July 1839 into the 36th foot. His further commissions were dated: lieutenant 11 May 1839, captain 7 June 1844, major 9 Feb. 1849, brevet lieutenant-colonel 17 July 1855, brevet colonel 17 July 1858, major-general 6 March 1868, lieutenant-general 1 Oct. 1877, colonel of the 2nd battalion of the West India regiment 21 Dec. 1881, general 1 Oct. 1883, colonel of the Leinster regiment 26 Aug. 1891.
In 1840 MacDougall entered the senior department of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst; he left in 1842 with the highest class certificate and special commendation. Transferred on 25 June 1844 to the Royal Canadian rifle regiment, he joined it at Toronto, Canada, and for the next ten years served as a regimental officer there and at Kingston. On 3 March 1854 he was appointed superintendent of studies at Sandhurst, but the following year was sent on particular service to the Crimea, where he acted as assistant quartermaster-general on the staff of Brigadier-general D. A. Cameron in the expedition to Kertch in May 1855, and attended Lord Raglan in the trenches at the unsuccessful assaults on the Redan on 18 June. For his Crimean services he received the war medal and clasp, the Turkish medal, and a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy. On his return home he resumed his appointment at Sandhurst, which he held until 1858.
In 1856 his principal work, 'The Theory of War: illustrated by numerous Examples from Military History,' was published, and a second edition appeared in 1858. It soon became a text-book of military instruction, was translated into French and German, and gave its author a first place among English military writers. In 1857, in a pamphlet entitled 'The Senior Department of the Royal Military College,' MacDougall drew attention to the want of proper instruction for staff officers, and on the formation of the staff college on 5 Feb. following, he became its first commandant. He published in 1858 a treatise written expressly for students of military history, entitled 'The Campaigns of Hannibal arranged and critically considered.'
During his tenure of office at the staff college he was an industrious writer and lecturer, taking as some of his subjects 'Napoleon's Campaign in Italy in 1796,' 'The Military Character of the great Duke of Marlborough,' 'General Sir Charles James Napier as Conqueror and Governor of Sind.' He wrote the obituary notice of Napier which appeared in the 'Times' of 13 Feb. 1860, and in 1862 published 'Forts versus Ships' and 'Defence of the Canadian Lakes and its influence on the general Defence of Canada,' both written in crossing the Atlantic on a short visit to America. In 1864 his life of his father-in-law, the historian of the peninsular war, Sir William Francis Patrick Napier [q. v.], edited by Lord Aberdare, was published in two octavo volumes, and in the same year 'Modern Warfare as influenced by Modern Artillery.' Early in 1865 he contributed articles on Sir William Napier both to the 'Edinburgh' and the 'Quarterly' Reviews.
MacDougall was appointed adjutant-general of Canadian militia in May 1865. His services in the Fenian raid of 1866 were brought to the especial notice of the authorities at home by Lord Monck, the governor-general (Despatch No. 53, 14 June 1866), who was so impressed with the value of MacDougall's work in the organisation of the militia and volunteers that, on leaving Canada, he wrote officially to thank him for having 'laid the foundation of a military system inexpensive, unoppressive, and efficient,' and sent a copy to the home authorities. During MacDougall's service on the staff' in Canada he lectured on military subjects from time to time, and published a pamphlet on the 'Defence of Canada.'
Returning to England in April 1869 he wrote 'The Army and its Reserves,' and was much occupied with the then burning question of army reform. In October 1871 he was appointed deputy inspector-general of the auxiliary forces at headquarters. He presided over Cardwell's 'Localisation Committee' in that year, one of the most important which have ever sat at the war office, whose report, generally adopted, proposed by the fusion of the regular, reserve, and auxiliary forces under the generals commanding districts, to form one army for defence under the Commander-in-chief and by the institution of linked battalions, to have always one at home and one abroad, with depot centres for enlisting and training recruits.
For five years from April 1873 MacDougall was head of the intelligence branch of the war office, at first as deputy adjutant-general, and afterwards as deputy quartermaster-general. Created a K.C.M.G. on 30 May 1877, he was a year later appointed to the command in North America, just at a time when relations with Russia were strained after the Russo-Turkish war. He undertook to have ten thousand trained and disciplined Canadian volunteers available for service wherever required, in a few weeks after the offer of their service was accepted, thus instituting a valuable precedent which has since been followed, not only by Canada, but by most of the self-governing colonies — notably in the recent South African troubles — to the great advantage of the empire.
MacDougall returned to England in May 1883, and retired from the active list in July 1885. He died at his residence, Melbury Lodge, Kingston Hill. Surrey, on 28 Nov. 1894, and was buried at East Putney cemetery, the sergeants of the Kingston depot carrying his body to the grave. He was twice married: first, in 1844, to Louisa Augusta (d. 1856), third daughter of Sir William Francis Patrick Napier; and, secondly, in 1860, to Marianne Adelaide, who survived him, daughter of Philip John Miles of Leigh Court, Somerset. There was no issue of either marriage. A miniature of Sir Patrick MacDougall by Notman of Montreal, Canada, is in Lady MacDougall's possession.
In addition to the works already mentioned, and many articles in the reviews and magazines, MacDougall was the author of the following: 'Emigration: its Advantages to Great Britain and her Colonies, together with a detailed Plan for the Promotion of the proposed Railway between Halifax and Quebec, by means of Colonization,' London, 1848, 8vo; 'Modern Infantry Tactics,' London, 1873, 8vo; 'Short Service Enlistment and the Organisation of our Infantry as illustrated by Recent Events,' Edinburgh, 1883, 8vo.
[War Office Records; obituary notice in Times of 30 Nov. 1894; Despatches; Army Lists; private information.]