Mr MacKenzie

In the novel A Pocket Full of Rye, Mr MacKenzie was the husband of Mrs MacKenzie, and the father of Donald and Ruby. He had business dealings with Rex Fortescue.

Mr MacKenzie had found a potential gold mining field in East Africa, and came to Rex to get money to capitalise on it. He and Rex went to Africa to survey the site. This was twenty years before the events of the novel.

Rex came back from Africa, saying that MacKenzie died of fever while there, and claiming that the mine was worthless. At the time of MacKenzie's death, his children were nine and seven years old. Mrs MacKenzie was convinced that Rex was responsible for his death, and made her children swear every night that they would kill him.