!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon and Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS:
THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section III, "MacLeod Cadet Families",
Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1970, pp. 232, 233-234.
Surgeon-General of Madras.
John was born at Bay, in Skye, on 14th February 1784 and was 8 years
of age, when his grandfather died and his father removed to Gillen. He
received a medical education and decided to enter the service of the East
India Company. Here he was required "to give satisfactory proof of his
having attended one course of lectures on the practice of physic, and
above all, of his having attended diligently the practice of the
Physicians at some General Hospital in London, Edinburgh, Dublin or
Glasgow for six months. A Diploma of M.R.C.S. or L.R.C.S. from the Royal
College of Surgeons of London or of the Colleges of Surgeons of Dublin or
Edinburgh or of the College and University of Glasgow was deemed
satisfactory for Surgery. He had also to attend one course of lectures on
''Hindoostanee''. By 1804 he had fulfilled all the necessary medical
requirements and was appointed a Surgeon in the Hon. East India
Company''s service.
On the recommendation of Sir Theophilus Metcalfe (1785-1846) a
Director of the East India Company, he was commissioned as Assistant
Surgeon on 15th July 1805. In 1808 he was posted to the 24th Regiment
of the Madras Native Infantry. Four years later, he was appointed
Garrison Assistant Surgeon at Vellore. On 3rd July 1819, Dr. John
MacLeod became a full surgeon and was appointed to the 38th Regiment
of the Madras Native Infantry. After 20 years, he received his first
furlough and lived for a time at Cheltenham where two of his children
were born. He joined the Oriental Club. He returned to Madras in January
1830 to rejoin his Regiment. He now held the Medical Charge of the
Police Establishment at the Presidency in Madras. On the 28th March
1832 he was promoted to Acting Superintendent Surgeon to the ceded
Districts with Headquarters at Bellary, 317 miles from Madras. In 1837
he beame Superintending Surgeon to the Centre Division of the Army
with Headquarters at the Presidency, Fort St. George in Madras. This
position he earned by "zealous and able discharge of his professional
duties".
On 1st January 1844, Superintending Surgeon John MacLeod became
Inspector-General of Hospitals and Third Member of the Medical Board at
Madras. Finally, on 31st January 1846, he became Surgeon-General and
Second Member of the Medical Board. He had thus reached the pinnacle of
his profession in the service of the Honourable East India Company.
In June, his health began to fail and he left on the LORD ELPHINSTONE to
recuperate in the island of Mauritius. Here he died shortly after his
arrival on 19th August 1846 and is buried on the island.
There is reference to him in the BANNATYNE MANUSCRIPT, contained in
the following excerpt: "Aalasdair Ruadh was the second son of Tormod,
the second son of William 5th Chief of MacLeod. The family of St. Kilda
was the head of this branch. Mairi nighean Alasdair Ruaidh belonged to
this family as did Dr. John MacLeod of the Madras Medical
Establishment."
Surgeon John MacLeod, on 30th July 1816, married at Vellore, Mrs. Mary
Frances Winfield, widow of Major John Phillip Winfield, of the 11th
Madras Native Infantry and daughter of Major-General Hamilton Hall
(Commandant at Vellore) and his wife, Flora Tondeclair, with issue.