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.
Iain Ciar MacLeod
According to the twentieth-century clan historian, R.C. MacLeod, Iain Ciar is estimated to have been born in the year 1330, or possibly later; he was the eldest child and succeeded his father, Malcolm, sometime between the years 1360 and 1370. The early nineteenth century "Bannatyne manuscript" states that he received a charter from Robert II, for the lands of Trotternish and all his other lands on Skye—although MacLeod noted that he could not find any evidence for the said charter. The manuscript states that Iain Ciar was said to have been "the most tyrannical and bloodthirsty despot, equally feared and hated by all his vassals, and by the members of his own family". It continues that he married the daughter of an Irish O'Neil chieftain and that she was just as cruel as her husband. For example, the manuscript tells that when she discovered that two of her daughters were about to escape her tyranny with their lovers (two MacQueen brothers from Roag), she had the brothers flogged to death, their bodies thrown into the sea, and her two daughters were buried alive within the dungeon of Dunvegan Castle.