Lieutenant-General Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin (17721 May 1841) was a British Army officer and politician.
Background
Rufane Donkin came of a military family and was the eldest child of General Robert Donkin, who had served with many famous British commanders including Wolfe and Gage and his Colonel, William Rufane. Young Rufane was baptised at St David's Church, Exeter, on 9 October 1772 with the name Rusaw Shaw Donkin..
Service
thumb|The [[Donkin Memorial, Donkin Reserve, Port Elizabeth]]
thumb|Donkin's name listed on the south face of the [[Burdett-Coutts Memorial Sundial]]
Becoming a captain in 1793, Donkin saw active service in the West Indies in the next year, gaining promotion to major in 1796. At the age of twenty-five he became a lieutenant colonel and in 1798 led a light battalion with distinction in Popham's expedition to Ostend. He served with Cathcart in Denmark in 1807 and two years later won command of a brigade of three regiments in the army in Portugal, which he led in victory at the Second Battle of Porto (May 1809).
On the day before the Battle of Talavera (July 1809), an advance French force surprised Donkin's brigade (positioned ahead of the main British army) before they could post pickets: the British had over 400 casualties. Donkin fell back, rallied the men at the main line and led the brigade throughout the battle.
The Army then transferred Donkin, in the role of quartermaster-general, to the Mediterranean command. He served there from 1810 to 1813, taking part in the Catalan expeditions under Lieutenant-General Frederick Maitland (1812) and Lord William Bentinck (1813). In July 1815, the now Major-General Donkin received a posting to India, distinguishing himself as a divisional commander in Hastings's operations against the Mahrattas (1817–1818) and receiving the KCB as his reward. The death of his young wife Elizabeth Frances née Markham seriously affected him, after that he went to the Cape of Good Hope on extended sick leave. From 1820 to 1821 he administered the Cape Colony with success as acting Governor. He named the rising seaport of Algoa Bay Port Elizabeth in memory of his wife and in August 1820 erected a memorial to her on a hill overlooking Algoa Bay. In 1821 he became lieutenant general and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order.