Expert: Mark Smith - 1/26/2006

Question
I have an 1852 book on the Duke of Marlborough signed by the author (Charles MacFarlane) to his good friend Major General MacNeill.

On another page, the general penciled in his name as what appears to be "P T J MacNeill," so evidently this is not John Carstairs MacNeill who received the V.C. in 1864 and was later himself a major general. I am having a tough time finding out about him. What do you suggest?

Answer
Hello.
Sorry I haven't been able to identify P T J MacNeill from any 19th century sources. Apart from John Carstairs McNeill, whom you've mentioned, there was another contemporary soldier with a similar name. He was Major General James Graham Robert Douglas MacNeill, born 1842 died 1904 (the same year as J C McNeill). He was commissioned in 1859 and retired in 1898. From the brief biography I read it seems he spent his entire service in India and Burma and was wounded in the Third Burma War.
Mark