No 24 March-April 2007 - Clan MacLeod Societies

CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
Clan MacLeod Society
of South Africa
Newsletter
Calling all macleods
Issue No 24
March/April
Correspondence to: The Editor, Brenda Morris,
PO Box 82, Caversham Glen 3616
President’s Note
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
President’s Note
1-2
MacLeod Miscellany
2-3
Chief John’s Obituary
(The Scotsman)
4-5
Hugh MacLeod of
MacLeod and the
Talisker Claim
6
Cape Town Taliskers
and past Presidents
7
Notice Board
8
I
will never forget the first quarter of 2007. For me it was a
period of joy, extreme sadness
and severe stress.
Our AGM took place at my home
on 6th January and although not
well attended, council members
were re-elected, decisions were
made and the Society carries on
with a good core of stalwart members. We still do not have a secretary nor a vice-president. Our Annual Dinner will take place on Friday 16th November and the venue
is yet to be confirmed. Please
make a note of this event in your
diaries.
The following week I flew to Sydney, Australia. I spent most of the
rest of January in New South
Wales for the wedding of my second daughter, Gabrielle. It was
the first time for some years that
my four daughters and I had been
together. My three granddaughters were also with us. I am sure
that you can all imagine the gaiety and the tears of emotion. The
wedding was memorable, not
only for the usual reasons but
also for the thunder, lightning,
wind and rain. A photograph elsewhere in this Newsletter illustrates this occasion.
A week later I visited Charles
Cooke, his wife Kerry and daughter Skye, on their farm at Grundy.
Skye had just flown home from
Edinburgh for a holiday. Charles
is of the MacLeod of Talisker family
and is well known in clan circles.
Following a few days in South Africa, I flew to London, from where I
travelled by bus to Cambridge. The
terrible news of the death of Chief
John on 12th February came to me
by e-mail. The ACMS Meeting and
Annual Dinner of CMS Scotland
were already arranged for 17th February in Edinburgh. Driving alone
on the M6, through the Midlands,
Cumbria and Lowland Scotland, my
thoughts were mainly memories of
Chief John. Leaving the motorway
at Moffat, I cut across country
through the Tweed Valley to
Peebles, where I stayed with my
brother Andrew and his family.
The ACMS meeting was, of course,
overshadowed by the death of
Chief John and the lack of his usual
presence was felt by everyone. The
Annual Dinner of CMS Scotland
that same evening, was held at the
Royal Scots Club, a magnificent
venue for such an occasion. The
evening was almost entirely devoted to the memory of Chief John.
The pibroch played by Euan MacCrimmon was MacLeod’s Salute. I
have never heard it played so well
— a magical performance by one of
the world’s greatest pipers. There
was a heart-rending eulogy from
Rory MacLeod of Suardal and
many speeches and words of remembrance from international
MacLeods. You will be able to read
(Continued on page 2)
1
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
MacLeod Miscellany
President’s Note
Duncan MacLeod, 1879 — ?
(Continued from page 1)
of this at length in the forthcoming
Clan MacLeod Magazine so I will
not say much about it here.
Following a ‘Lying in State’ in the
library of Dunvegan Castle, the
funeral of Chief John took place on
Saturday 24th February. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the
funeral because of prior commitments and family problems. I sent
messages of sympathy and condolences on behalf of CMS South
Africa to Ulrika, Hugh, Elena,
Stephan and their families. Obituaries for Chief John appeared in all
major British newspapers and
probably throughout the western
world. We reproduce one of them
here.
W
e have received an inquiry
from Grant MacLeod
(Scotland) for information on his
great-uncle, Duncan, who came
to South Africa at the end of the
19th century.
Duncan was born in Shawbost,
Isle of Lewis, in 1879 and was the
son of Roderick MacLeod. We
will, of course, search the state
archives, but should anyone know
of this man, please contact Leonard. Herewith a photograph of
Duncan in army uniform and also
one of his RNV book before joining the army for duty in Africa.
There was a memorial service for
Chief John in the Swedish Church
in London on Saturday 21st April at
11.00 am, followed by refreshments in the Church Hall. Ulrika
and John were married in this
church exactly three years ago.
There will also be another Memorial Service for Chief John on 16th
June in Dunvegan Parish Church.
This will be followed by the unveiling of the memorial headstone at
Kilmuir Church and a buffet dinner
will be served in the castle in the
evening.
The new chief of Clan MacLeod
wishes to be known as Chief Hugh
MacLeod of MacLeod. The Chief is
dead. Long live the Chief.
Yours aye
Leonard McLeod
Upholding the Scots Tradition ‘Downunder’
W
hen Harry Buisman, grandson of Sheila and Robin Douglas, set
his heart on joining his school pipe band, he knew that Sydney’s
Knox Grammar had the only known junior school pipe band in the world.
Now 13 years old and having moved up to Knox College, Harry has just
been invited to play the tenor drum. This involves twirling the sticks between beats, his mother Fiona says, and his uniform has the red
McPherson tartan worn with a dark green jacket with large gold buttons.
A red flash in each stocking denotes that he is a member of the band.
Anzac Day (25 April) was his first public parade, in the presence of an
important Australian Air Force officer.
2
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
MacLeod Miscellany
Sheila Douglas writes:
McLeod’s Daughters Come to Port MacQuarrie
P
eter and Ann McLeod flew to
Cape Town from Bloemfontein
recently to spend a few days with
their many friends.
They will both retire within the next
year and have bought themselves
a house in Fishhoek. As their accommodation is just close by, they
walked to visit Treasurer, Sheila
Douglas, to pay their annual subscription, at the same time enjoying
tea and a pleasant chat.
From left to right: : Laura, Leonard, Gabrielle, Emily and Jessica.
T
his photograph shows our president, Leonard, with his four daughters.
They were all together for the marriage of Leonard’s second daughter,
Gabrielle, to Jason Towers. The wedding took place at Port MacQuarrie,
New South Wales, Australia, on 27 January 2007.
Peter McLeod, his wife Ann (left) and
Lerma Macleod, on the occasion
of Chief John's atttendance and reading at the Cape Town Presbyterian
Church on 11 April, 2004.
All four sisters were Highland Dancers and many of our members in the
Cape will remember them dancing at our function some years ago. Laura
lives in France, Gabrielle in Australia, and Emily and Jessica in England.
Our congratulations go out to the happy couple.
KEARNEY/WILLIAMSON
J
acqueline, only daughter of John and Liz Williamson of Rondebosch,
and Liam, eldest son of Kieran and Maree Kearney of Noosa Heads
tied the knot in Brisbane, Australia on 26 March 2007. A very glamorouslooking Liz went ‘downunder’ to supervise!
3
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
THURSDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2007
THE SCOTSMAN
OBITUARIES
John MacLeod of MacLeod
BY GORDON CASELY
JOHN MacLEOD
of MacLEOD
29th chief of MacLeod
Born: 10 August, 1935, at
Esslemont, Ellon,
Aberdeenshire.
Died: 12 February, 2007,
in London, aged 71.
4
T
he name of John MacLeod
of MacLeod, 29th chief and
holder of the arms and
name of MacLeod, will be forever
associated with his £10 million
attempt in March 2000 to sell off
the Black Cuillin range in order to
repair historic Dunvegan Castle.
The resulting approbrium
heaped on him took no account of
a basic fact of life: that Dunvegan
was his permanent home, and
that without the castle, he would
be homeless, his clan would have
no heartland, and Skye would
lose its major tourist attraction.
MacLeod — he was correctly
addressed of the ilk rather than as
"Mr MacLeod" — held claim to being
a Renaissance man. A successful
businessman and musicologist, he
was a professionally trained singer
who recorded a number of albums,
clan leader and moderniser,
scholar and tourism manager. Charisma he had in plenty, and moved
readily among any whom he met.
MacLeod was not born to be
clan chief. But it was his fate that
he was chosen so. Born John Wolrige-Gordon, the second son and
elder twin of Captain Robert Wolrige-Gordon of Esslemont, 20th
laird of Hallhead and ninth baron of
Esslemont in Aberdeenshire, he
became the tanistair (nominated
heir) as a 16-year-old in 1951 of
28th clan chief Dame Flora
MacLeod of MacLeod — a move
recognised by Lord Lyon Sir Thomas Innes of Learney — and took
over from her as chief when she
died, aged 99, in 1976.
Dame Flora married Hubert
Walter in 1901, succeeded her father as chief in1934 and reverted to
her maiden name on the death of
her husband. Her elder daughter,
Alice, married the chief of MacNab,
while Joan, the younger, wed
Robert Wolrige-Gordon, heir to
Esslemont in east Aberdeenshire.
Of Joan's three sons, the
eldest, Robert, succeeded to
Esslemont; the youngest, the late
Patrick, became Conservative MP
for East Aberdeenshire; with John,
Patrick's elder twin, being nominated as heir to MacLeod and the
barony of Dunvegan.
The talented MacLeod, educated at Eton and McGill University, Montreal, trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, initially working in cabaret in Canada and the US before
gaining an Equity card and returning to the UK in theatre management. Keen to further a career in
music, he left London's West End
"with some reluctance" and went to
Geneva to study voice.
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
He knew that Dunvegan was
his destiny, and under the tutelage
of his redoubtable grandmother he
became imbued in clan ways and
learning. When he succeeded her
at age 40, he renounced his career
in show business: "the call of Dunvegan is too strong to resist".
His inheritance was a show
of a very different kind. He was
now full-time leader and ambassador for an active and worldwide
following, as well as laird of the
rambling Dunvegan. Work as clan
chief took him on extensive (and
usually self-funded) tours to North
America, Australia, New Zealand,
South Africa and Europe to visit
clansfolk. Maintenance of the clan
was an all-consuming passion,
and· he contrived to present himself almost everywhere he was
asked.
Maintenance of Dunvegan
proved another matter entirely. The
castle occupies a site that has
been in MacLeod hands for more
than eight centuries, and had not
been well maintained. It was
MacLeod's inspiration that a business plan had been devised to
make the place pay for itself. It was
his aspiration that Dunvegan remain for all time a place of pilgrimage for both MacLeods and those
interested in Skye and Scotland.
He redesigned and revamped the place, opening it in a
fashion long before the term "user
friendly" was invented. He'd turn up
to lead tours himself, a tall figure in
an increasingly battered MacLeod
kilt, personally greeting his visitors,
making those on the tour feel
warmly welcome — as indeed they
were. Here was a home that was
evidently lived in, and MacLeod
enjoyed showing it off.
He was custodian of the
priceless Dunvegan Armorial, a
handwritten and painted volume
dating from 1582 containing the
coats-of-arms of Scotland's power
brokers of the time, and which entered his family in 1751. Keen to
see the volume published for the
wider world, he worked from 1979
with editors John and Eileen Malden in what proved to be a 27-year
odyssey until successful funding
gained publication last year.
With Skye such a focus for
outdoor activities, a need for
modern mountain rescue was
self-evident, and in 2001 he donated land in Glenbrittle for a rescue base funded by the Order of
St John. On the stormy day of the
opening, he appeared in his
MacLeod kiIt as always. His
words may have been somewhat
drowned by the wind, but there
was no denying his personal
pride of place in being part of new
life in his beloved Cuillin.
tag on Scotland's iconic mountaintops, he was savagely criticised from conservation and
hill-users groups, even receiving the threat of a legal challenge on actual ownership
from one outdoor group. But
Crown Estate enquiries concluded that indeed MacLeod
owned the mountains — some
23,000 acres of the peaks,
rivers and 14 miles of coast.
Subsequent assessment of MacLeod's castle project now puts the likely bill at
Dunvegan Castle
MacLeod was a laird
whose personal template just didn't fit the standard caricature of a
landowner. A lifetime of travel
gave him strong pro-European
tendencies, and he saw it as business and international sense for
the UK to join the euro. He was
strongly antifascist, and marched
in protest against the Iraq war.
When running repairs to
Dunvegan proved simply impossible — "The cracks: are crevasses,
and no longer patchable" — he
came to the heart-wrenching decision that a Cuillin sale would be
the only exit from the financial
impasse. Besides, the condition
of the castle was impeding further
plans to develop Dunvegan in
terms of year-round tourism.
History may show him to
have been harshly judged in his
attempted mountain sale, for
when he put a £10 million price-
£19 million, and the matter is
now the subject of a bid for
lottery funding.
Mac Leod's desc ent
came from 13th century Norse
sources, by tradition from
Leod, eponymous ancestor of
the MacLeods. Two of the
quarters on his MacLeod coatof-arms show the three legs of
Man to recall a tradition of
Manx blood going back to
Ragnar Lothbrok in 854.
Macleod was married
three times; first to Drusilla
Shaw, from Co Kildare in 1961
(divorced 1971); and secondly
to Melita Kolin, from Sofia in
1973 (divorced 1993). He is
survived by his third wife,
Ulrika, sons Hugh, who now
becomes the 30th chief of
MacLeod, Stephan, and
daughter Elena.
5
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
Biography
HUGH MACLEOD
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH,
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
www.dailytelegraph.com.au
By FIONA HUDSON in London
B
orn in London in 1973, he graduated with a BA (Hons) in Film and
Modern History from the University of London and the Sorbonne in
1995.
After a brief period at Sotheby’s and Freud Communications, Hugh began
working in television as a researcher and was commissioned to direct/
produce Champagne and Canvas, a documentary that was nominated for
best video production at the 1998 BBC British Short Film Festival.
He gained experience in film production at the London Film School before
producing Cuisine Chinoise starring Irene Jacob. To date, this film has
been broadcast on FilmFour, Sundance Channel, HBO and featured in
numerous international film festivals including Edinburgh, the Schermi
d’Amore, Grenoble, winning best short film at Dignes-les-Bains.
Since then Hugh has been working as a freelance director and producer
on a variety of television and feature film projects. His debut short film as
director, The Point,
was awarded a certificate of merit at
TCM’s classic shorts
competition in association with the 2001
Regus London Film
Festival.
In 2006 he established Morphe Films
and optioned the film
rights to the Sunday
Times bestseller, The
Cloud Garden, which
he is currently coadapting for the big
screen. His development slate also includes the ambitious
period feature, Whom
the Gods Love,
based on the book by
Joan Alexander.
Chief Hugh MacLeod of
MacLeod
(Photographer: (Frederique
Feder)
I'm a Scottish clan
chief, claims
Australian builder
By FIONA HUDSON in London
A
n Aussie builder claims he
is the rightful chief of one
of
Scotland's
most
famous clans, the MacLeods.
West Australian Guy MacLeod,
54, put his hand up for the title
following the death last month of
the clan's 29th chief, John
MacLeod. The late leader controversially once tried to sell the
famous Black Cuillin mountains
on the Isle of Skye to raise $25
million for repairs to his medieval
Dunvegan Castle.
Geraldton tradesman Mr
MacLeod — also known as "The
Talisker" — claims he is directly
descended from 17th century
clan leader Rory Mor. He said he
has not come forward to stake a
claim on the MacLeod clan's castle, heirlooms or other assets. "I
am more interested in the bloodline than taking over a ruined
castle or hitting the headlines. I
am keen the bloodline shouldn't
be lost," he said.
Dunvegan Castle is one of the
most important historic castles in
Scotland.
John MacLeod, who died last
month from leukaemia, had held
the chief's title since succeeding
his grandmother Dame Flora in
1976.
Until the West Australian builder
threw his hat in the ring, the title
was tipped to pass directly to
John MacLeod's son Hugh.
Clan historians will now investigate the Australian's claims.
6
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
Cape Town MacLeods of Talisker
Back row:
row
1. Harold Reuben.
2. Robert John.
3. Lucy, wife of William.
4. Norman Fitzwalter.
5. Anne, wife of Charles.
6. Charles Henry.
7. Rufus George Robert.
Centre row:
row
1. Agnes, wife of Robert .
2. William James.
3. Annie (neé Crichton) Mother.
4. Charles Augustus –
Father.
5. Ethel Francis Maria.
Front row:
row
1. Augusta Mary.
2. Donald MacDonald .
3. Magnus.
T
he Australian MacLeods of Talisker have been
somewhat in the news recently, because of the
recent correspondence from Guy MacLeod of Talisker following the death of Chief John. It is of interest that a prominent MacLeod family in Cape Town
are also of the Talisker family. They have given our
society four presidents — Gordon was founding
president from 1983-1985; Chris MacLeod (of Constantia) was president twice, from 1985–1986 and
from 1991-1992; Guy MacLeod (of Plumstead) from
1997-1999 and Robert MacLeod (of Sea Point and
Kalk Bay ) from 2000-2002.
William James MacLeod, born 1798, who came to
Cape Town in 1822, was the 12th child of Roderick
MacLeod (1727-1815), Principal of King’s College,
Aberdeen. The Talisker genealogy in The
MacLeods — the Genealogy of a Clan, Part 2,1968,
by D. MacKinnon and A. Morrison, does not list William James. However, all the evidence points to the
authenticity of this information.
The very interesting photograph accompanying
these notes shows the family of Charles Augustus
MacLeod (1837-1909).
A Dip into the
Archives . . .
Three past presidents of the Clan
MacLeod Society of South Africa.
Left to right:
Leonard McLeod (1986-88),
Uisdean McLeod (1992-94) and
Gordon MacLeod (1983-86), on
board the yacht Dunvegan, owned
by clansman Ken Nicol, in Cape
Town harbour,
7
CLAN MACLEOD SOCIETY OF SOUTH AFRICA NEWSLETTER
Notices
Material for
Newsletters!
Please help make our Newsletter
interesting and enjoyable reading!
Send along any stories or
snippets for inclusion in the
coming issues – jokes, pictures,
news reports – anything that will
be of interest to our clan
readers. My e-mail address is:
brenda@brenmac.co.za.
Tel: (031) 7024415
082 5747643
Brenda MacLeod Morris – Editor
STOP PRESS . . .
. . . STOP PRESS
Annual Dinner News
When: Friday 16th November
2007
Where: Cape Town Hotel
School Restaurant, Granger
Bay.
Cost: R160 per person
Scottish
Country Dancing Lessons
Have fun and get fit at the same time! Go
along to the Scottish Country Dancing
classes held in Rondebosch on
Wednesdays at 19h30 with Campbell Tyler.
For more info, contact John or Liz Williamson on (021) 6856317.
President’s Contact
Details
Leonard McLeod
E-mail: lochbaylen@aol.com
Tel: (021) 8551753
Snail mail: Unit 160,
Helderberg Village
Somerset West
8
Piper and Dancers in attendance. Wear your tartan if
possible. All family and
friends welcome.
" Every self-respecting MacLeod
should attend . . ." — Robert MacLeod
(of Kalk Bay and Sea Point )