Hector Macdonald was born on April 13th, 1853, at Rootfield, near Dingwall, Ross-Shire, Scotland, on a farm. His father William Macdonald was a Crofter and a stonemason. His mother was Ann Boyd, the daughter of John Boyd of Killiechoilum and Cradlehall, near Inverness. Hector's bothers were the Rev. William Macdonald Jr. known as 'Preaching Mac' ( Donald, John, and Ewen the other three ). At age 15 Macdonald took his first job as apprenticed to a draper in Dingwall and then to move on to the Royal Clan Tartan and Tweed Warehouse in Inverness, an establishment owned by a Mr. William Mackay. In 1870 Hector Macdonald joined the Gordon Highlanders and began his great military career.

When staying in Edinburgh, Macdonald would take solitary walks along the streets and river. In 1883 while on one of these walks, he met Christina MacLouchan Duncan, by the spring of 1884 they married. In the old Scots style they pledged their vows to each other and after they kissed, Christina held a small Bible and Macdonald pronounced that they were legally married. In Scotland this was a legal form of marriage until 1940. This marriage would remain a secret for years due to the fact that the Duncan family did not approve, and Kitchener did not like his officers to marry. In 1887 Hector Duncan Macdonald was born.