Flora MacLeod of MacLeod

Scottish clan chief

Joan
Alice

ParentSir Reginald MacLeod (father)RelativesStafford Northcote (grandfather)AwardsDBE

Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod, DBE (3 February 1878 – 4 November 1976) was the 28th Chief of Clan MacLeod.

Biography

Flora Louisa Cecilia MacLeod was born at 10 Downing Street, London, in 1878, the home of her grandfather Sir Stafford Northcote, who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer.^[1] Her mother was Lady Agnes Mary Cecilia Northcote and her father, Sir Reginald MacLeod, became Chief of Clan MacLeod in 1929. She was elected President of the clan's society and went to live with her father at the 800-year-old family seat, Dunvegan Castle in Skye, where she became a county councillor for Bracadale.^[2] In 1901, she married Hubert Walter, a journalist at The Times, with whom she had two daughters, Joan and Alice. Her husband, Hubert Walter, died in 1933.^[3]

Upon the death of her father in 1935, Flora MacLeod of MacLeod (as she would be thenceforth known) inherited the estate and was recognised as the 28th Chief of Clan MacLeod. Years later, to raise income, she opened Dunvegan Castle to tourists, turning it into a popular tourist attraction.^[4] Following the Second World War, she travelled widely, establishing Clan MacLeod Societies throughout the British Commonwealth.

She was created a DBE in 1953. She lived at Dunvegan Castle until 1973 before moving to Ythan Lodge in Aberdeenshire, where she died in 1976, aged 98. She is buried in the traditional Clan MacLeod burial ground at Kilmuir, near Dunvegan.^[5] Her grandson John MacLeod of MacLeod succeeded her.^[6]

The Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod Trophy for Open Piobaireachd has been presented, since 1969, to the best bagpiper at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina, USA.^[7]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Flora MacLeod of MacLeod

16. Maj.-Gen. Norman MacLeod, 23rd of MacLeod

8. John Norman MacLeod, 24th of MacLeod, MP

17. Sarah Stackhouse

4. Norman MacLeod, 25th of MacLeod

18. John Stephenson, of Kent

9. Anne Stephenson

19. Mary Broadley

2. Sir Reginald MacLeod, 27th of MacLeod, KCB

20. John St. John, 12th Baron St. John of Bletso

10. St. Andrew St. John, 14th Baron St. John of Bletso, MP

21. Susanne Louise Simond

5. The Hon. Louisa Barbara St. John

22. Sir Charles William Rouse Boughton, 1st and 9th Bt.

11. Louisa Rouse Boughton

23. Catherine Pearce

1. Dame Flora Louisa Cecilia MacLeod, 28th of MacLeod, DBE

24. Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 7th Bt.

12. Henry Stafford Northcote

25. Jacquetta Baring

6. Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh

26. Thomas Cockburn

13. Agnes Mary Cockburn

27. Henrietta Colebrooke

3. Lady Agnes Mary Cecilia Northcote

28. James Farrer

14. Thomas Farrer

29. Frances Loxham

7. Cecilia Frances Farrer, CI

30. Richard Willis of Halsnead Hall

15. Cecilia Willis

31. Cicely Feilden

Coat of arms

Her coat of arms are described thus:

Shield: I and IV azure a castle triple towered and embattled argent masoned sable windowed and porched gules and II and III gules three legs in armour proper garnished and spurred Or flexed and conjoined in triangle at the upper part of the thigh.
Crest and mantle: Upon a torse Or and azure, A bull's head cabossed sable horned Or between two flags gules staves sable, the mantling azure double Or.
Supporters: Two lions reguardant gules armed and langued azure each holding a dagger proper

References

^ Biodata, scran.ac.uk; accessed 29 March 2016.
^ Kelly, John Davidson (2004). "MacLeod, Dame Flora Louisa Cecilia". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/57013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ "Hubert Walter". The New York Times. 22 December 1933. p. 21. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
^ "Tours by Dame Flora MacLeod". Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
^ Profile, thepeerage.com; accessed 29 March 2016.
^ Notice of death of John MacLeod of MacLeod, telegraph.co.uk; accessed 29 March 2016.
^ The Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod Trophy for Open Piobaireachd Archived 10 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, clanmacleodusa.org; accessed 29 March 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flora MacLeod.

New York Times obituary for Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod
National Galleries.org site

Clan MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan and Clan MacLeod of Lewis

Clan chiefs

MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan (MacLeod of MacLeod)	Leod Tormod Malcolm Iain Ciar William Cleireach Iain Borb William Dubh Alasdair Crotach William Mary Donald Norman William John Sir Rory Mor John Roderick John Roderick Norman John Norman Norman John Norman Norman Norman Magnus Sir Reginald Dame Flora John Hugh Magnus
MacLeod of Lewis	Torquil Roderick Torquil Roderick Torquil Roderick [Torquil] Roderick [Torquil] Donald

Castles and buildings

MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan	Dunvegan Castle Dunscaith Castle Church of St Clement
MacLeod of Lewis	Ardvreck Castle

Clan heirlooms and relics

MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan	Fairy Flag Sir Rory Mor's Horn Dunvegan Cup Bannatyne manuscript

Clan battles

MacLeod of Harris and Dunvegan	Battle of Harlaw Battle of Bloody Bay Battle of Glendale Battle of the Spoiling Dyke Battle of Coire Na Creiche
MacLeod of Lewis	Battle of Tuiteam Tarbhach Battle of Bloody Bay Battle of Leckmelm Battle of Culloden