Norman The_Red_Man MacLeod
b: 29 JUL 1705
d: 1772
Biography
!SOURCE: Sir Robert Douglas of Glenbervie, Bart., THE BARONAGE OF
SCOTLAND, Edinburgh, 1798, p. 379.
Norman MacLeod, now of that ilk, who succeded him, and was infeft in
whole lands of the family, as heir to his father and grandfather, in
November 1731 and May 1732.
He married, 1st, Janet, daughter of Sir Donald MacDonald second
baronet of Slate, by whom he had one son,
John, his apprent heir, -- and one daughter,
Emilia, married to captain Gustavus Moore of Saltston in the kingdom of
Ireland.
He married, 2ndly, Anne, daughter of William Martin of Inchfure, Esq; by
whom he hath three daughters,
1. Elisabeth, married to colonel James Pringle younger of Stitchill.
2. Anne.
3. Rich.-Mary.
!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon, and Alick Morrison, MACLEOD CHIEFS
OF HARRIS AND DUNVEGAN, Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1969, pp.
28ff. Alick Morrison, THE CHIEFS OF CLAN MACLEOD, East Kilbride,
Scotland, 1986.
Norman was born on 29th July 1705, according to the PERTH PAROCHIAL
REGISTER, and was about a year old when his brother, John, died. When
John MacLeod of Contullich was at John''s funeral at Perth, he was
present at Norman''s baptism. [Contullich''s accounts in Muniment Room,
Dunvegan Castle.] His mother married as her second husband, Peter
Fotheringham of Powrie, with issue, and, as her third husband, John, 2nd
Earl of Cromartie, with issue also. Young Norman was thus brought up at
Powrie, and afterwards at Castle Leod, near Strathpeffer, Ross-shire. In
December 1724, when he was about seven months short of his twentieth
birthday, he married, as his first wife, Janet, daughter of Sir Donald
MacDonald, 4th Baronet of Sleat, who was six years older than he was.
[Strangely enough, Janet is not given in the list of Sir Donald
MacDonald''s children in CLAN DONALD (III, p. 474). She was the youngest
daughter of Sir Donald and his wife, Margaret (not Mary, as stated in
CLAN DONALD), daughter of Donald MacDonald, 1st of Castleton, Sleat,
and widow of John Og MacKinnon of MacKinnon, who died on the night of
16th November 1680 on which his only son was born, afterwards John
Dubh, Chief of the MacKinnons. Janet, Norman''s wife, and John Dubh
MacKinnon of MacKinnon were half-sister and brother.] Instead of taking
his wife to Dunvegan Castle, he very foolishly brought her to Castle Leod to
live with her mother-in-law and several Fotheringham and MacKenzie
sisters-in-law. There began the unhappiness, which culminated in a
separation between Norman and Janet in 1733. They remained apart for
seven years, but, in 1740, through the good offices of Duncan Forbes of
Culloden, a reconciliation was effected, and Janet came back to her
husband. She continue to live with him until her death, which, according
to the SCOTS MAGAZINE, took place in April 1743. There is a tradition
that Norman brought about her death by putting her in the dungeon of the
Castle and leaving her to there to starve, but it is difficult to believe
that such a thing ever happened. Probably the tradition is a garbled
version of a rumour, which was current in Skye in 1733, and to which Sir
Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, writing to MacLeod on 27th June of that
year, refers -- Janet was kept by MacLeod as a prisoner in Dunvegan.
[Sir Alexander MacDonald''s letter is preserved in the Muniment Room at
Dunvegan.] Five years after his wife''s death, Norman married (marr.
contr., [Muniment Room, Dunvegan] dated 4th October 1748) Ann,
daughter of William Martin of Inchfure, Ross-shire. Canon Roderick
MacLeod writes that Ann was ''of quite humble origin'', and that Norman took
a ''fancy'' to her because she was a ''pretty girl''. [Revised and enlarged
edition of Canon MacLeod''s THE MACLEODS OF DUNVEGAN (MS.), Muniment
Room, Dunvegan.] Her portrait, which hangs on the wall of the
dining-room in Dunvegan Castle, depicts her as a woman of beauty, but it
is not correct to say she was ''of quite humble origin''. She and her
husband seem to have lived happily together. Her death took place in
November 1802. Norman was for the greater part of his life an absentee
chief, but in spite of the fact that he was seldom at Dunvegan, he was
beloved by his clansmen. At first he lived in rented houses in the south,
and then purchased an estate -- Whitehouse -- outside Edinburgh, but when,
towards the end of his life, he became financially embarrassed, he sold
Whitehouse and bought a house, called Park House, situated outside St.
Andrews. He died, according to the SCOTS MAGAZINE, at Strathtyrum
House, St. Andrews, on 21st July 1772, and was buried in the kirkyard of
the Cathedral of St. Andrews, where the handsome monument, erected to
his memory by his wife, may still be seen. By his first wife, Janet
MacDonald, Norman MacLeod had issue, a son and two daughters.
Facts
  • 29 JUL 1705 - Birth -
  • 1772 - Death -
  • Nobility Title - XXII Chief
Ancestors
   
 
 
Norman MacLeod
1685 - 1706
  
  
  
 
Norman The_Red_Man MacLeod
29 JUL 1705 - 1772
  
 
  
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Family Group Sheet - Child
PARENT (M) Norman MacLeod
Birth1685
Death1706
Marriage22 SEP 1703to Anne Fraser
FatherJohn Iain_Breac MacLeod
MotherFlorence MacDonald
PARENT (F) Anne Fraser
Birth
Death
Marriage22 SEP 1703to Norman MacLeod
Father?
Mother?
CHILDREN
MJohn MacLeod
Birth1704
Death1706
MNorman The_Red_Man MacLeod
Birth29 JUL 1705
Death1772
Marriageto Janet MacDonald
Marriageto Anne Martin
Family Group Sheet - Spouse
PARENT (M) Norman The_Red_Man MacLeod
Birth29 JUL 1705
Death1772
Marriageto Janet MacDonald
Marriageto Anne Martin
FatherNorman MacLeod
MotherAnne Fraser
PARENT (F) Janet MacDonald
Birth
Death
Marriageto Norman The_Red_Man MacLeod
Father?
Mother?
CHILDREN
FAnn MacLeod
Birth
Death
Marriageto David MacGill
FEmilia MacLeod
Birth
Death
Marriageto Lieut. John Keith
Marriageto Capt._Augustus Moore
MJohn MacLeod
Birth(1725/1726)
Death7 JAN 1767Beverley,Yorkshire
Marriage21 DEC 1751to Emilia Brodie
Family Group Sheet - Spouse
PARENT (M) Norman The_Red_Man MacLeod
Birth29 JUL 1705
Death1772
Marriageto Janet MacDonald
Marriageto Anne Martin
FatherNorman MacLeod
MotherAnne Fraser
PARENT (F) Anne Martin
Birth
Death
Marriageto Norman The_Red_Man MacLeod
FatherWilliam Martin
MotherKatherine Forbes
CHILDREN
FElizabeth MacLeod
Birth
Death9 OCT 1826
Marriage10 SEP 1767to Sir James Pringle
FAnn MacLeod
Birth
Death
FRich Mary MacLeod
Birth
Death
Descendancy Chart