_Tormod [Norman] MACLEOD _
_Sir_Roderick Ruairidh_Mor MACLEOD _|_Giles Julia MACLEAN _____
_Sir Norman MACLEOD __|
| | _Donald MACDONALD ________
| |_Isabel MACDONALD __________________|_Margaret MACDONALD ______
_William MACLEOD ____|
| | _Donald MACDONALD ________
| | _Sir James MACDONALD _______________|_Janet MACKENZIE _________
| |_Catharine MACDONALD _|
| | __________________________
| |_Margaret MACKENZIE ________________|__________________________
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|--Roderick MACLEOD
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| | |____________________________________|__________________________
|_Margaret MACKENZIE _|
| __________________________
| ____________________________________|__________________________
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!BIOGRAPHY: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon and Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS--THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section II, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1968, pp. 32-34. Born in Berneray, was bred to the law and served his apprenticeship under (1) Ronald Campbell and (2) John Buchanan. He became a Writer to the Signet of Edinburgh on 7th March 1732, and along with his cousin, John MacLeod of Muiravonside, advocate, served for many years as "doer" of MacLeod. he was warmly interested in Gaelic poetry for Charles Steward, notary, reported that he saw Gaelic poems in his possession. This probably explains why sever Gaelic poems dealing with Berneray and Luskintyre families were deposited in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh. Roderick MacLeods was one of the most redoubtable members of of the Berneray family and, like so many of them, he was a Jacobite. In this connection we find him in 1732 playing a leading part in the extraordinary affair of Lady Grange. This Lady, who possessed a vile and dangerous temper, was the wife of the crypto-Jacobite Lord Grange, a Lord of Session. For some time Lord Grange and his wife had been estranged but she threatened to ruin him and to expose his Jacobite intrigues. This involved the safety and fortunes of many prominent Jacobites as well as endangering the prospects of restoring the exiled House of Stuarts. A bold plan was conceived to silence Lady Grange by spiriting her away to lonely islands in the Hebrides. Accordingly on 22nd January 1732, at 10 o'clock at night, Roderick MacLeod, MacDonald of Morar with attendants in the livery of Lord Lovat entered the house of Mrs. Margaret MacLean, where Lady Grange resided. They tried to persuade her to leave with them. When this failed, they used more forceful methods and the lady was bundled into a sedan chair and taken to Mutrie's Hill, outside Edinburgh. From there she was taken on horseback to Muiravoside House where she was comfortably lodged for a day and night. Roderick MacLeod disappeard after that, but Lady Grange was taken by servants of Lord Lovat's to Polmaise, four miles east of Stirling, where she was secreted for some months. Thereafter she was taken to Callander. Here Roderick MacLeod reappeared and took charge. When curious people enquired as to the reason for this strange cavalcade, Roderick MacLeod replied that he was taking a demented Lady to the Holy Pool of St. Fillan between Tyndrum and Crianlarich. The waters of the pool were regarded as efficacious against insanity. The cavalcade continued past Callander, the Pass of Leny and the banks of Loch Lubnaig. Not far from Balquhidder they had to shelter in a robbers' hut. The Lady disclosed to the robbers that she was kidnapped and promised a rich reward if she ws rescued. Roderick MacLeod and MacDonald with their dirks and pistols were equal to the situation and managed to escape, taking care to take the Lady with them. They passed Glendochart. St. Fillan's Pool and Crianlarich and entered the wilds of Glencoe, where they stated one night. Now they made for Loch Eil and, securing a boat, rowed to the head of the Loch. Then they reached Glenshiel and again rowed to the head of that Loch. Finally they reached Castle Tioram, where Lady Grange made a desperate attempt to escape, breaking her arm on the stairs. [CLAN MACLEOD MAGAZINE, 1943] It was now discovered that a sloop, sent by Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, awaited them at Loch Hourn. This involved a day and night's hard rowing in a four-oared boat before the "cargo" was safely deposited on board. Lady Grange was now taken to the lonely island of Heisker off the west coast of Uist. She made life so unpleasant for Alexander MacDonald of Heisker for two years that she had to be removed elsewhere. Again Roderick MacLeod appeared and this time the brothers, John and Norman MacLeod of Northton, after some rough handling, took her to St. Kilda, where she remained eight years, until she was later taken to Harris and Skye by Rory MacSween. [THE CLAN MACLEOD MAGAZINE, 1957] She was left finally in the charge of Rory MacNeil at Trumpan. She died in 1745 and was buried in the churchyard there. Her funeral expenses cost as much as her annual maintenance by MacLeod of MacLeod. Roderick MacLeod does not seem to habe taken an active part in the '45 Campaign. His son, hwoever, remembered how he used to travel all the way from Edinburgh on horseback to London to make representation on behalf of the Jacobites imprisoned there. This in itself was no mean achievement in the England of Dick Turpin and Jack Sheppard. Roderick MacLeod married (1) Isobel, only daughter of Hector Bannatyne of Kames, Buteshire, and (2) Marjory, daughter of John Taylor, writer in Edinburgh. He died on 26th June 1784, leaving issue.