Sir James Macdonald Dunnett KCIE (1877–1953) was a civil servant in the Indian Civil Service.

[3] He attended Kilmarnock Academy, and then University of Edinburgh from which he graduated with an MA with honours in mathematics,[2] before studying at Christ Church, Oxford.

[3] After passing the entrance exam in 1900, he entered the Indian Civil Service where.

[5] His final civil service appointment was in Britain as 1940 as Assistant Secretary in the Scottish Department of Health.

[citation needed] He married Annie Sangster, with whom he had four children, their second son being Sir James Dunnett, a notable UK civil servant.