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.
Archibald Norman McLeod
Born at Kilfinichen, he was the fifth son of Rev. Neil McLeod (1729-1780) M.A., a native of St Kilda, and Margaret MacLean (1737-1789), daughter of Rev. Archibald MacLean (b.1683) M.A., of the MacLeans of Boreray, North Uist. Archibald's grandfather, John McLeod (1696-1792), 4th Laird of Pabbay and Steward of St Kilda, was directly descended from the 6th Chief of Clan MacLeod of Lewis, of Dunvegan Castle. In 1773, Samuel Johnson and James Boswell stayed as guests of Archibald's father, who Boswell described as, "a Minister that lives upon the coast, whose elegance of conversation and strength of judgment would make him conspicuous in places of greater celebrity... We were very agreeably entertained at his house. Dr. Johnson observed to me that he was the clearest headed man that he had met with in the Western Islands".
Archibald entered the North West Company as a clerk, probably through the interest of one of the partners, Alexander McLeod, some time before 1793, and became a partner in the NWC in 1796. He was stationed in the Lower Fort des Prairies department in 1794-5, and in 1800-1 he was in charge of the Swan River district, wintering at Fort Alexandria, where he kept a journal that survives. From 1802 to 1808, he was working in the Athabaska district. In 1805, he established Fort Dunvegan, named for his family's ancestral home, Dunvegan Castle. He retired from wintering in the wilds in 1809. He was named a justice of the peace for the Western Territories in 1809 and then for Montreal district in 1810. McLeod was an officer in the militia and served during the War of 1812. He did not run for reelection to the assembly in 1814. McLeod was one of the instigators of the Battle of Seven Oaks.