John Donaldson was born in 1789. He studied Law and was called to the Scottish Bar in 1826, though he was also a well-known teacher of music in Edinburgh. Though unsuccessful in his earlier candidacy in 1841, he was elected to the Reid Professorship of Music at Edinburgh University in 1845 on the death of Professor John Thomson. It was Donaldson who established a museum and purchased old and unusual musical instruments which today forms the John Donaldson Collection. As well as founding this collection which illustrates the history of music and acoustics, he built a fine hall as his music classroom with adjoining museum gallery, now known as the Reid Concert Hall. An organ built by Messrs. Hill and Sons (London) was constructed in the music classroom.

It is said that Donaldson's lectures were not especially successful because he was not a practical musician, devoting himself rather more to the theory of harmony and investigating obscure questions of acoustics. Nevertheless, he held the Professorship until his death at Marchfield, his home near Edinburgh, on 12 August 1865.