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Sir '''Donald Mackenzie Wallace''' [[Order of the Indian Empire|KCIE]], [[Royal Victorian Order|KCVO]] (11 November 1841 – 10 January 1919) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] public servant, editor and foreign correspondent of [[The Times]] (London).  

==Early life==   
Donald Mackenzie Wallace was born to Robert Wallace<ref name="IndianBio">{{cite book|title=The Indian Biographical Dictionary|editor=C. Hayavando Rao|publisher=Pillar & Co.|location=Madras|date=1915|pages=456-57|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Indian_Biographical_Dictionary_%281915%29/Wallace,_Sir_Donald_Mackenzie}}</ref> of [[Boghead]], [[Dunbartonshire]], and Sarah Mackenzie. Both his parents died before Donald turned ten. By the age of fifteen, Wallace immersed himself in his studies. He spent all his time before the age of twenty-eight in continuous study at various universities such as [[University of Edinburgh|Edinburgh]] and [[University of Glasgow|Glasgow]], focusing his study on metaphysics and ethics. He spent the remaining years at the [[Paris Law Faculty|École de Droit]], Paris, and applied himself to Roman law at the universities of [[Humboldt University of Berlin|Berlin]] and [[University of Heidelberg|Heidelberg]], graduating with a doctorate in law from Heidelberg in 1867.

==Travels to Russia==
Wallace accepted a private invitation to visit [[Russia]], having a strong desire to study the [[Ossetes]], a tribe of [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] descent in the [[Caucasus]]. Living in Russia from early 1870 until late 1875, Wallace found the Russian civilization far more interesting than his original Ossetes. Wallace returned to England in 1876 and published two volumes in his work [[Russia]] by 1877, right before the outbreak of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russo-Turkish War]]. His book had great success, going through several editions and being translated into many languages. 

==Foreign correspondent==
Due to the success of his work in [[Russia]], Wallace was appointed as foreign correspondent of ''The Times''. His first post was [[St. Petersburg]] in 1877-78; he was then sent to the [[Congress of Berlin]] in June and July of 1878. There he assisted [[Henri de Blowitz]], the famous Paris correspondent of ''The Times'', and carried the text of the treaty from Berlin to Brussels sewn into the lining of his greatcoat. From 1878-1884 he was in Constantinople; while there, he investigated the [[Balkan]] peoples and their problems and ended up going on a special mission to [[Egypt]]. The outcome of Wallace's mission to Egypt became another successful book, ''Egypt and the Egyptian Question'' (1883). After traveling through the Middle East, Wallace was selected as the political officer of Tsar [[Nicholas II]] in his Indian tour of 1890-91, for which he later received 1st class Russian Order of St. Stanislas.<ref name="IndianBio" />  He served as Private Secretary to Lords [[Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava|Dufferin]] and [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne|Lansdowne]], in India.<ref name="IndianBio" />

==Later life==
In his last years Wallace reverted to his youthful self and devoted himself to study again. He didn't publish anything after his last book, ''The Web of Empire'', in 1902. He contributed briefly to the editing of the 10th edition of the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], but in 1902 he was taken from his ''Britannica'' duties by the [[Prince of Wales]], [[George V of the United Kingdom]], who commanded Wallace's attendance for a world tour.<ref>{{cite book | year = 1968 | title = Banquet at Guildhall in the City of London, Tuesday 15 October 1968: Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Encyclopædia Britannica and the 25th Anniversary of the Honorable William Benton as its Chairman and Publisher | publisher = [[Encyclopædia Britannica Inc.|Encyclopædia Britannica International, Ltd.]] | location = [[United Kingdom]]}}</ref> He was attached to Emperor of Russia during his visit to England, 1909, then was Extra Groom-in-Waiting to Emperor Edward VII, 1909-10, and to Emperor George V from 1910.<ref name="IndianBio" /> He was knighted, KCIE, for his services to India in 1888, and subsequently knighted for his services to the Crown, KCVO in 1901. He never married and died at [[Lymington]], [[Hampshire]], on 10 January 1919. 

==References==
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==Sources==
*G. E. Buckle, ‘Wallace, Sir Donald Mackenzie (1841–1919)’, rev. H. C. G. Matthew, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36702, accessed 28 Oct 2007]

==External links==
{{wikisource-author}}
{{wikisource|The Indian Biographical Dictionary (1915)/Wallace, Sir Donald Mackenzie|Wallace, Sir Donald Mackenzie}}
* {{gutenberg author| id=Donald_Mackenzie_Wallace | name=Donald_Mackenzie_Wallace}}

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[[Category:1841 births]]
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Encyclopædia Britannica]]
[[Category:Encyclopedists]]
[[Category:Western writers about Imperial Russia]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]

[[pt:Donald Mackenzie Wallace]]
[[Category:2Fix]]