John Maciver Macleod, known as Iain
Macleoid. Former police inspector and president of An Commun
Gàidhealach. Born: 28 April, 1951, in Carloway, Lewis. Died: 4
January, 2018, in Edinburgh, aged 66. When Iain Macleoid was named
Sàr Ghàidheal, Outstanding Gael, just three months before his death
it was public acknowledgement of a true Gaelic champion who had given
decades of support to his native culture. Though, like many others,
he had left the islands as a young man, he maintained his commitment
to the Gaelic language, community and its traditions from a position
of influence in the Scottish capital. He was involved in myriad
projects and organisations, served as president of An Commun
Gàidhealach for a decade, and featured in a Scottish Parliament
exhibition as one of ten Scots who made a difference in a devolved
Scotland. Born on the Isle of Lewis, to weaver Duncan Macleod
and his wife Peggy, a herring girl, his parents named him Iain but
were apparently not allowed to register a Gaelic name at that time.
So, instead of using the English equivalent of Ian, he was registered
as John, which translated as Iain. The only son and the youngest of
four, including a baby sister who died in infancy, he was educated at
Carloway Primary School before attending the Nicolson Institute
in Stornoway where, in common with other pupils from outlying areas,
he boarded at a hostel during the week. After completing his
schooling, he joined Edinburgh City Police in 1970, leaving home with
the words of his mother, who counselled him not to be out late at
night, ringing in his ears. Little did she realise he would end up
patrolling the then fairly notorious Lothian Road during his night
shifts. He also regularly policed the city’s Hogmanay celebrations,
walking home at 4am through the party detritus of litter, lost
handbags and discarded high heels. Macleoid, who combined his police
career with further and higher education, was awarded Napier
College’s bronze medal for SHNC Police Studies in 1976 and went on
to gain a law degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1984.
During that period he was a member of
the Edinburgh-Caithness Association, serving two terms as president,
once in the mid-1980s and then from 2001-2002. Meanwhile, his police
career saw him progress to inspector and he regularly policed
football matches and attended the Royal Highland and Agricultural
Society of Scotland, both as a member and as the officer in charge of
policing its annual Royal Highland Show. He retired from the
force, which had by then become Lothian and Borders Police, in 2000
after completing 30 years’ service. He and his wife Christine, whom
he married in Wick in 1977, had two children, Màiri and Calum, who
were educated through the Gaelic medium in Edinburgh, and in
1994 their father became convenor of Comann nam Pàrant (Nàiseanta),
the national Gaelic Parents’ Association. He was also the first
chairperson of its Edinburgh group. In retirement he stepped up his
involvement in the development of Gaelic. For many years he was
Gaelic advisor on Edinburgh International Harp Festival and on the
Clarsach Society’s finance and administration committees and since
2002 had been a member of Lothian Gaelic Choir, latterly serving as
their Gaelic tutor.
A board member of the Gaelic language society Comunn na Gàidhlig and a member of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Scotland’s principal public body for promoting Gaelic development, he worked diligently to maintain and raise awareness of the culture. His contribution to the Gaelic association An Comunn Gàidhealach, which he served as a board member for many years and as president from 2007 to 2017, was applauded by the organisation’s current president Allan Campbell, who described him as a true Gael and his death as an enormous blow. Macleoid, who received Royal visits from Princes Andrew and Charles and Anne, the Princess Royal during his tenure, was also president, since 2013, of Comunn Tir nam Beann an organisation that has been promoting traditional music for almost a century. His inclusion in the Scottish Parliament’s travelling exhibition, Moving Stories, which toured the length of the country up to Stornoway, resulted from his petitioning on Gaelic matters and his involvement in Gaelic culture in Edinburgh.
A board member of the Gaelic language society Comunn na Gàidhlig and a member of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Scotland’s principal public body for promoting Gaelic development, he worked diligently to maintain and raise awareness of the culture. His contribution to the Gaelic association An Comunn Gàidhealach, which he served as a board member for many years and as president from 2007 to 2017, was applauded by the organisation’s current president Allan Campbell, who described him as a true Gael and his death as an enormous blow. Macleoid, who received Royal visits from Princes Andrew and Charles and Anne, the Princess Royal during his tenure, was also president, since 2013, of Comunn Tir nam Beann an organisation that has been promoting traditional music for almost a century. His inclusion in the Scottish Parliament’s travelling exhibition, Moving Stories, which toured the length of the country up to Stornoway, resulted from his petitioning on Gaelic matters and his involvement in Gaelic culture in Edinburgh.
Despite all his years in the capital he
remained inextricably attached to the Isle of Lewis: he was a
member of the Carloway Choir and opened the Carloway Show last
summer. It was only a few months later that he was awarded the Sàr
Ghàidheal title by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the University of the
Highlands and Islands’ Gaelic college based in Skye. A devout
worshipper, he attended the Edinburgh Free Church and monthly Free
Church Gaelic services, where he was precentor, and strictly adhered
to Sabbath Observance, attending morning and evening services each
week.
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