Ranald George Macdonald (29 August 1788 – 11 March 1873) was a

Scottish clan chief The Scottish Gaelic word means children. In early times, and possibly even today, Scottish clan members believed themselves to descend from a common ancestor, the founder of the clan, after whom the clan is named. The clan chief (''ceannard c ...

and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. Macdonald was the son of John Macdonald, 18th Chief of Clanranald, by Katherine, the daughter of

Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield (4 May 1722 – 30 May 1799) was a Scottish advocate and judge. Life McQueen was born at Braxfield House near Lanark on 4 May 1722, son of John McQueen. He studied law at Edinburgh University and was admitted to ...

.''Macdonald, Ranald George''
in The ''History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820'', ed. R. Thorne, 1986 He became the 19th Chief of Clanranald. He married Caroline Anne, daughter of

Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...

, on 13 February 1812 and had issue. He was elected to Parliament for

Plympton Erle Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to Pl ...

on 10 October 1812 and sat until 1824. In 1824

Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry Colonel Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry (15 September 1773 – 17 January 1828), sometimes called by the Gaelic version of his name, Alastair or Alasdair, was clan chief of Clan MacDonell of Glengarry. As was customary for a laird (l ...

unsuccessfully attempted to deprive Macdonald of the chiefship of

Clan Donald Clan Donald, also known as Clan MacDonald ( gd, Clann Dòmhnaill; Mac Dòmhnaill ), is a Highland Scottish clan and one of the largest Scottish clans. The Lord Lyon King of Arms, the Scottish official with responsibility for regulating heraldry i ...

by bringing an action in the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

. Between 1813 and 1838, Clanranald sold almost the entirety of his estates. He attributed his financial misfortune to peculation on the part of his trustees. However, the historical consensus has been that his ruin resulted primarily from his folly and extravagance.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Ranald George 1788 births 1873 deaths UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1820–1826 Scottish clan chiefs Ranald George Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Plympton Erle Clanranald, Ranald George Macdonald, 6th Baron 19th-century British businesspeople