Born at Cockenzie and Port SetoninEast Lothian, Scotland, the son of Captain Peter Donaldson.[2] Captain Donaldson had sailed regularly from Port Seton Harbour, then in 1962 it is recorded the vessel Shearwater navigating the Bass Strait Islands with a cargo of livestock under his command was lost off Ninth Island. He and his crew were saved and there are still remains of the ship on the island today.[3][4]
On 31 August 1963, John Donaldson married his first wife, Henrietta Clark Horne (1942–1997), at Port Seton. They emigrated to Tasmania, Australia, in November of that year. Donaldson's parents and his elder brother Peter and younger sister Roy also emigrated to Tasmania.[5] His father then joined a large maritimetrading company as a captain. They had four children, Jane Alison Donaldson (born 26 December 1965), Patricia Anne Donaldson (born 16 March 1968), John Stuart Donaldson (born 9 July 1970) and Mary Elizabeth Donaldson (born 5 February 1972), married in 2004 to Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark (now King Frederik X).[6]
In addition to British citizenship, Donaldson obtained Australian citizenship in 1975.[7]
Henrietta died on 20 November 1997, and Donaldson later married Susan Elizabeth Horwood (born 1940) on 5 September 2001. She is a novelist who writes under the names Susan Moody, Susannah James and Susan Madison.[8][9]
In 1963, Donaldson graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a BSc degree with honours in Mathematics and Physics. After Edinburgh, Donaldson moved to Australia to work under the direction of mathematician Professor David Elliott at the University of Tasmania, taking a PhD in Mathematics in 1967.[10]
After receiving his doctorate in 1967, Donaldson remained at the University of Tasmania as a lecturer in applied mathematics, becoming DeanofUTASFaculty of Science until retiring in 2003. With the Earl of Dunmore, he served on the Scottish Australian Heritage Council.[11]
Upon the marriage of his daughter the then Crown Princess Mary in 2004, Donaldson was appointed to the Order of the Dannebrog. In accordance with the statutes of the Danish Royal Orders, both he and his daughter were granted arms to display in the Chapel of the Royal Orders at Frederiksborg Castle.[14]
Coat of arms of John Dalgleish Donaldson
Notes
Queen Mary's coat of arms is almost identical to that of her father's, but a gold rose is depicted as her personal symbol, instead of the infinity symbol.
The main field of Professor Donaldson's coat of arms is tinctured Or and shows a MacDonald Gules eagle and a Sable boat both symbolising his Scottish ancestry. The Chief field is Azure and shows two gold Commonwealth Stars from the arms of Australia, and a gold infinity symbol in between, symbolising his career in Australia as a mathematician. Above the shield is placed a barred helmet topped with a red rampant lion, which is turned outward. The lion derives from the arms of Scotland and also from the arms of Tasmania and Hobart.
Chick, H.L.; Collis, K.F.; Donaldson, J.D.; Watson, J.M. (1995). Professional development in mathematics for teachers: Who, what, why and how. 15th Biennial Conference of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers. Darwin. pp. 65–71. S2CID180618518.
Roberts, Michael S.; Donaldson, John D.; Rowland, Malcolm (1988). "Models of hepatic elimination: Comparison of stochastic models to describe residence time distributions and to predict the influence of drug distribution, enzyme heterogeneity, and systemic recycling on hepatic elimination". Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics. 16 (1): 41–83. doi:10.1007/BF01061862. PMID3373419. S2CID360960.
Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser, Reference: 2004 11
The Ancestry of Mary Elizabeth Donaldson 2006, Reitwiesner, William Addams, Reference: nr.2
^ ab"Items where year is 1968". University of Tasmania. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 18 August 2015. Doctor Donaldson, John Dalgleish (1968) Asymptotic estimates of the errors in the numerical integration of analytic functions. UNSPECIFIED thesis, University of Tasmania.
^Bevan, J. (3 March 2016). "Ninth Island in Bass Strait sold for $1.2m". Mercury. Retrieved 18 February 2017. The island is also famous for a maritime incident involving the vessel Sheerwater, captained by the grandfather of Crown Princess of Denmark Mary Donaldson. In 1962, Captain Peter Donaldson was on a voyage from Bass Strait Islands with a cargo of livestock, when it was lost off Ninth Island.
^"Watching my niece become a princess". The Scotsman. 19 May 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2017. But perhaps the most poignant reminder of (Princess) Mary's Scottish roots was a picture of Port Seton harbour with a fishing boat (in which) her grandfather used to sail...
Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, 2004[13]
