!SOURCE: Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS: THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN,
Section IV, Second Edition, Revised by Major Loudoun Hector Davenport
MacLeod, RM, and others, "The MacLeods of Lewis", Edinburgh, Associated
Clan MacLeod Societies, 1990, pp. 20, 21, 22.
John MacLeod, II of Colbecks, inherited his father''s great wealth and
was described by Charles MacKinnon of MacKinnon as his "rich brother".
It has been stated that he "registered arms in the Lyon Office in 1783",
[A. MacKenzie (1889) p. 386.] "but there is no record of any such
registration". [MacKinnon, CMM No. 15, p. 484.] He lived for a time at
Inveresk near Edinburgh, and later in Ballencrieff House, the residence of
Lord Elibank in East Lothian. he raised the Princess Charlotte of Wales,
or The MacLeod Loyal Fencible Highlanders, and was appointed Colonel. He
is designated Colonel as early as 1796, though curiously the MacLeod
Fencibles does not seem to have been raised until 1799. This Regiment,
the last Fencible Regiment raised in the Highlands, was inspected at
Elgin by Major-General Leith Hay in June 1799 and was immediately
despatched to Ireland. After three years'' service there, it was embarked
for England and reduced at Tynemouth Barracks in June 1802. A
presentation sword in the possession of a certain M.C. MacLeod in
Edinburgh bore the following inscription:
"Present to Colonel John MacLeod late Commandant of the Princess of
Wales Loyal Highlanders - 7th Jany. 1809".
In 1782 John MacLeod, II of Colbecks, married his first cousin, Jane or
Jean, daughter of John MacLeod, XI of Raasay (and his wife Jane or Jean,
[MacKinnon, CMM No. 15, 484, names her Florence.] daughter of Angus
MacQueen, Tacksman of Totaroam), with issue.
Colonel John MacLeod, II of Colbecks, took up residence in London about
1803, and died there in 1823. His obituary in BLACKWOOD''S MAGAZINE
reads as follows:
"In Bury Street, St. James'', London, Colonel John MacLeod of Colbecks.
With him expired the last of a branch of an ancient and distinguished
clan".