Colonel Norman Macalister (20 February 1760 – August 1810) was a Scottish officer in the

Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...

and colonial administrator who was Lieutenant- Governor of Prince of Wales Isle (

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

) from 1808 to 1810. Macalister was born on the Isle of Skye, the eighth son of Ranald Macalister of Skerrinish and Anne Macdonald of Kingsburgh. In 1783, he joined the

as a cadet. The present brick structure of

Fort Cornwallis Fort Cornwallis is a bastion fort in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, built by the British East India Company in the late 18th century. It is the largest standing fort in Malaysia. The fort never engaged in combat during its operational history. ...

in Penang, was built by convict labour in 1810 during his term as Governor of Penang. He was lost at sea, in the South China Seas, while on the ship ''Ocean''" traveling back to Scotland. Macalister Road in George Town,

is named after him.New Ways of Knowing: The Prince of Wales Island Gazette—Penang’s First Newspaper by Geoff Wade, University of Hong Kong; Email gwade@hkucc.hku.hk, Presented at The Penang Story – International Conference 2002 18–21 April 2002, The City Bayview Hotel, Penang, Malaysia organised by The Penang Heritage Trust & STAR Publications In 1805, as Commander of the Artillery, Macalister made an inventory of the useful timber of Penang, part of the Company's exercise to identify potential naval timber and secure suitable woods for masts and spars to replace supplies from the lost American colonies.Nature and Nation: Forests and Development in Peninsular Malaysia By Kathirithamby-W, J. Kathirithamby-Wells, Claire Hall, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Published by NUS Press, 2004; , 9789971693022; pp. 32, 51, 459, 481

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macalister, Norman History of Penang Governors of Penang Administrators in British Penang 1810 deaths 1760 births