!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. 237, 239-241, 243.
Charles Edward Alexander MacLeod was born at Brindisi, Italy, on the
10th September 1867. As a boy, he resided for some time in Carlisle and
at Yockleton Hall, near Shrewsbury. In 1880 he entered the Royal Free
Grammar School of Edward VI in Shrewsbury. In 1886, he entered the
Medical School of the Westminster Hospital in London, where he
qualified M.R.C.S. (Eng.) and L.R.C.P. (Lond.) on 30th July 1891 and
registered as a Medical Practitioner on 26th August. He took a LOCUM
TENENS in Aberystwyth and thereafter returned to London, where he did
some coaching at the Medical School.
In January 1895, he became House-Surgeon at the Westminster Hospital
and in June obtained the diploma of F.R.C.S. (Eng.). He was also Clinical
Assistant in the Eye, Ear and Skin Department of the Hospital. From
1896 to 1897 he took ''locums'' in Southend and Southampton. In 1898 he
was appointed Assistant-Anaesthetist to the Westminster and National
Dental Hospitals and formed a partnership with Dr. George Lindsay
Turnbull.
In 1902, he became a Fellow of the Medical Society of London. In the
BROAD WAY, the Gazette of Westminster Hospital, in 1903, there is
reference to the connection of ''Big Mac'' with the hospital, his continued
success and to his ''big heart''. "Many and merry wree the meetings held
at his ''digs'' in times past. Old students will remember him as host, as
coach or as friend in need, seated in a huge armchair".
He was 47 when the First World War broke out; he applied to the
Advisory Medical Board for National Service but was rejected on medical
grounds. In later years as life became more leisurely, he was able to
pursue his love of genealogy and became a recognized authority on most
of the old Skye families. On August 1928, he visited Dunvegan Castle,
where he saw the leases and other documents accumulated there through
the centuries. He displayed his tremendous enthusiams for his own race
-- the Clann mac mhic Alasdair Ruaidh -- by repairing the Alasdair
Ruaidh burial ground at St. Mary''s Church, Kilmuir, Dunvegan. The work
was completed in 1930 and the following inscription is affixed to the
wall. "Sacred to the Memory of the MacLeods of Bharkasaig, Bay and
Gillen popularly known as the Clann mac mhic Alasdair Ruaidh, descended
from Tormod, second son of William (Cleireach) 5th Chief of MacLeod and
in remembrance of the inimitable Poetess, Mairi nighean Alasdair
Ruaidh".
He was a man of immense kindness and was greatly beloved by his
patients one of whom left him a house, complete with furniture and an
extensive garden at Kenley in Surrey. He did much charitable work,
particularly at the Convents of the Poor Clare, Westbourne Park Road,
and of Our Lady of Zion, Chepstow Villas. Despite his flourishing
practice and many calls on his leisure time, he was a keen motorist,
golfer and bridge player. He died in Harness on 9th January 1939 at the
age of 71. On 14th January 1939, the following excerpt appeared in THE
TIMES. "By the death of Dr. C.E. Alexander MacLeod at Ladbroke Grove on
January 9th, Kensington has lost its best known and most beloved
doctor." He was the eldest surviving member of the Bay Branch of the
MacLeods of Skye, popularly known as the Clann mac mhic Alasdair
Ruaidh, to which belonged the famous Gaelic poetess, Mair nighean
Alasdair Ruaidh. A plaque to his memory was placed in the family burial
ground at Kilmuir churchyard, Dunvegan. He himself was buried in Kensal
Green Cemetery.
Dr. Charles Edward Alexander MacLeod married on the 5th October 1898
at the Parish Churh, Brighton, Edith Ann (born on 2nd September and
baptised on 2nd November 1873 at the Parish Church of St. Mary the
Virgin at Twikenham), the fourth daughter of Frederick John Budd-Budd
(1843-1916) of Restlands, West Hoathly, Sussex and Victory Mansion,
Brighton, and his wife Ann Elizabeth (1838-1927), formerly Hindes of
Beccles, Suffolk, who were married in the Parich Church of St. Mary the
Virgin, in Twickenham. The honeymoon was spent at Totland Bay on the
Isle of Wight. On their return to London, they resided at first at 89
Ladbroke Grove and later removed to 76 and, finally, to 70b Ladbroke
Grove, W.11. Dr. Charles Edward Alexander MacLeod and his wife had
issue.
Dr. Charles Edward Alexander MacLeod died on 9th January 1939 and
was succeeded in the representation of the family of Bay and Gillen by
his eldest son, Alexander Cameron MacLeod, Surgeon.