Sorley MacLean
Sorley MacLean was born at Òsgaig on the island of Raasay on 26 October 1911; Scottish Gaelic was his first language. Before he went to school at the age of six, he spoke very little English. He was the second of five sons born to Malcolm (1880–1951) and Christina MacLean (1886–1974). The family owend a small croft and ran a tailoring business, but they later gave up the croft to move to a better house, which proved detrimental to their finances when the Great Depression took a high toll on the tailoring business. His brothers were John Maclean (1910–1970), a schoolteacher and later rector of Oban High School, who was also a piper; Calum Maclean (1915–1960), a noted folklorist and ethnographer; and Alasdair (1918–1999) and Norman (c.1917–c.1980), who became general practitioners. Sorley's two younger sisters, Isobel and Mary, were also schoolteachers. His patronymic was Somhairle mac Chaluim 'ic Chaluim 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid 'ic Iain 'ic Tharmaid; he could not trace his genealogy with certainty to the eighth generation.
Roderick MacLean
Born in 1900 at Inverness, Nova Scotia, MacLean was educated at Dalhousie University. He married Etta Maud Hammond in 1937. From 1937 to 1949, MacLean was a municipal councillor for Inverness County, serving from 1943 to 1949 as warden. MacLean entered provincial politics in the 1949 election, winning the dual-member Inverness riding with Liberal Alexander H. McKinnon. He was re-elected in 1953. Maclean was re-elected in the 1956, and 1960 elections, serving with Liberal Joseph Clyde Nunn. MacLean died in office on January 30, 1962. He was succeeded as MLA by his brother, William N. MacLean.