MacRae, 1868-1963, was born in Ontario and attended Dalhousie University followed by post-graduate work in Leipzig, Jena and Edinburgh. He came to Calgary to establish Western Canada College in 1903. MacRae was principal for 20 years, then moved to University Military School, Victoria. He published the History of the Province of Alberta in 1912. He married H. M. Nan Anderson, ?-1948, and had one stepson, Torchy Anderson.