| Ian Macdonald | |
| Order1: | National Organiser of the Scottish National Party |
| Term Start1: | 1962 |
| Term End1: | 1968 |
| Predecessor1: | Office established |
| Successor1: | John McAteer |
| Birthname: | Ian C. H. Macdonald |
| Party: | Scottish National Party |
Ian C. H. Macdonald (born 1934) is a former Scottish nationalist activist.
Macdonald studied at the Glasgow Academy and University of Glasgow before undertaking National Service[1] He joined the Scottish National Party (SNP), and began working on a farm in Killearn, in 1956 starting a branch of the SNP in nearby Balfron. The following year, he inherited the family farm in Newmilns, and started the Irvine Valley branch of the party.[2] He was elected to the SNP organisation committee, and in 1961 to its executive.[3] The party also stood him as its candidate at the 1961 Glasgow Bridgeton by-election, its first by-election candidacy in nine years. Supported by election agent Alan Niven, Macdonald won 18.7% of the vote in a seat which the party had never previously contested. This result delighted Macdonald, who sold the farm to become the SNP's first full-time national organiser since the early 1950s.[4] [5]
Macdonald proved a very effective organiser, travelling the nation to set up new branches.[6] He married Karen, daughter of SNP activist Douglas Drysdale, although then struggled as Douglas interfered with his work.[7]
By the time Macdonald stood down, in 1968, the SNP had gone from having 140 branches to having 484, and official membership had risen to 120,000.[8] He subsequently became a vice-president of the party, and remained on the party's national executive through the 1970s, during which time he ran a dry cleaning business. He also stood unsuccessfully for the SNP in several elections: Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire in 1970, Hamilton in February and October 1974, when he took 39% of the vote, and Central Ayrshire in 1979.
Macdonald also received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 1967.[9]