James Macdonald (civil servant)

James Macdonald, CBE, FRSE (3 August 1898 – 28 April 1963) was a British civil servant and forester.

Born on 3 August 1898,[1] Macdonald attended Blairgowrie High School from 1903 to 1915, then served in the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.

[1] He was appointed Research Officer, England and Wales, in 1932 and that year became a lecturer at the Imperial Forestry Institute.

[3] He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services in the 1953 New Year Honours[4] and served as president of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations from 1956 to 1961, alongside his work with the Forestry Commission.

[5] From 1960 to 1962, he was acting Deputy Director-General of the commission during Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse's secondment to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.