Iain Macleod
Iain Macleod was born at Clifford House, Skipton, Yorkshire, on 11 November 1913. His father, Dr. Norman Alexander Macleod, was a well-respected general practitioner in Skipton, with a substantial poor-law practice (providing medical services for those who could not afford to pay); the young Macleod would often accompany his father on his rounds. His parents were from the Isle of Lewis in the Western Isles of Scotland, belonging to the branch of the Macleods of Pabbay and Uig. They moved to Skipton in 1907. Macleod grew up with strong personal and cultural ties to Scotland, as his parents bought in 1917 part of the Leverhulme estate on the Isle of Lewis, where they often used to stay for family holidays.
Independent Highland Companies
On 23 December 1745 Norman MacLeod, chief of the Clan MacLeod led 500 men of the MacLeod Independent Highland Companies at the Battle of Inverurie (1745) where they were defeated by a numerically superior Jacobite force. The following February the Siege of Inverness (1746) took place where the Grant and Ross Independent Highland Companies surrendered Inverness Castle, again to a numerically superior Jacobite force. On 20 March 1746 Loudon's Highlanders regiment along with the MacLeod Independent Highland Companies were routed by a surprise Jacobite attack coordinated by James Drummond, 3rd Duke of Perth at Dornoch. 300 of Loudon's regiment were taken prisoner but the majority, 900 in all, escaped to the Isle of Skye including the commanders; John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden and Norman MacLeod. There they were reinforced by Alexander MacDonald of Sleat and the 3rd Mackenzie Independent Company, bringing their total number of men to 1300. Others of Loudon's regiment escaped to the lands of the Mackays in the far north of Sutherland.