Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Donaldson, John (1799-1876)
DONALDSON, JOHN (1799–1876), author of 'Agricultural Biography,' was born in Northumberland in 1799, and was probably related to James Donaldson (fl. 1794) [q. v.], whose subjects he made his own. His chief writings, upon the title- pages of which he is described as 'Professor of Botany 'and 'Government Land Drainage Survey or,' were: 1. 'A Treatise on Manures,' 1842. 2. ' The Enemies to Agriculture, Botanical and Zoological,' 1847. 3. ' Soils and Manures,' 1851. 4. 'Agricultural Biography,' 1854: a very useful specimen of biographical grouping, though the notices are often merely bibliographical. 6. 'British Agriculture : Cultivation of Land, Management of Crops, Economy of Animals,' 1860, 4to : an elaborate compilation dedicated to the Duke of Argyll.
Donaldson was presented to the Charterhouse by the Prince Consort in August 1855, and died a poor brother there on 22 March 1876, leaving a will in favour of Elizabeth Saine, a widow. In the year after his death a posthumous work on 'Suburban Farming' was edited by Robert Scott Burn.
[Times, 29 March 1876 (an account of the inquest of which Donaldson's sudden death by syncope was the cause); Notes and Queries, 7th ser. v. 8, 76; Donaldson's Works; Brit. Mus. Cat.]