Unto the Right Honourable,
The Secretary of State for the Colonies.
SHEWETH,
...
734
27687
Rec IRE 28 JUL 06
Fore-
THE HUMBLE PETITION of JAMES MCDONALD,
man Farm Servant, residing at Balquharn in
the Parish of Fern and County of Forfar,
That your Petitioner was born in the Parish of Oathlaw
in said County in the year 1869, his father being a farm
servant.
That at the age of about 13, he went out to farm service and continued in that employment till the age of 19,
when he joined the Dundee Police Force in which he continued
for 2 years, and out of that Force in the autumn of 1890 was
chosen, along with eight others from different places, for
the establishment of the Police Force in Hong Kong. He was
enrolled in that force on 29th December 1890 and continued on
duty continuously for six years, when he was granted the
usual leave of absence to return home.
That on the expiry of his leave, he returned to duty in
the force at Hong Kong and served for other three years, when
he was laid aside by a serious illness, which the Doctors
described as 'Bright's Disease'.
After being confined to
bed in Hospital at Hong Kong for between two and three months
and treated for that disease, the Doctors decided that his
case was incurable and hopeless, and he was invalided from
the force in October 1899, carried on board ship and sent
home. At that time Petitioner held the rank of Foreman of
the Fire Brigade, to which he had been promoted about two
years previously. The voyage home and good medical treatment