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.
Hector Lachlan Stewart MacLean
Hector MacLean was the eldest son of Margaret MacQueen (née Bairnsfather; 1846-1921) and Major-General Charles Smith MacLean CB CIE (1836-1921). Hector was born in a tent on the hill of Sheikh Budin, in the Northwestern Provinces of India, now Pakistan. He was educated at Fettes College in Edinburgh. He was 26 years old, and a lieutenant in the Indian Staff Corps and Corps of Guides, Indian Army during the Tirah Campaign when the following deed took place for which he was posthumously awarded the VC.