Geoffrey McDonell

Biography

Geoffrey McDonell was born in London in 1874 and worked in the London Stock Exchange before volunteering for the Boer War. He co-wrote a book entitled The Record of the Mounted Infantry of the City Imperial Volunteers (London, 1902, ISBN 1430460865) about his unit's experiences in South Africa. He emigrated to Canada where he became a "pioneer and fur trapper" according to his World War One enlistment papers - he volunteered at the start of the war and served with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Europe, being decorated for bravery on 11/03/1916 for "conspicuous gallantry". Later in the war he transferred to a Canadian unit that fought with the White Russians against the Red Army in Siberia, and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel. His obituary in the Los Angeles Times states "Col. McDonell, who was 64,years of age, has been a motion picture actor since coming here in 1923". He is buried in the British Veterans' plot in Inglewood Park Cemetery.