Obituary: Iain Macleoid, champion of Gaelic culture who was prominent in many organisations

Iain MacLeoid, president of An Comunn Gaidhealach.

When Iain Macleoid was named Sàr Ghàidheal, Outstanding Gael, just three months before his death it was public acknowledgement of a true Gaelic champion who had given decades of support to his native culture.

Though, like many others, he had left the islands as a young man, he maintained his commitment to the Gaelic language, community and its traditions from a position of influence in the Scottish capital.

He was involved in myriad projects and organisations, served as president of An Commun Gàidhealach for a decade, and featured in a Scottish Parliament exhibition as one of ten Scots who made a difference in a devolved Scotland.

Born on the Isle of Lewis, to weaver Duncan Macleod and his wife Peggy, a herring girl, his parents named him Iain but were apparently not allowed to register a Gaelic name at that time. So, instead of using the English equivalent of Ian, he was registered as John, which translated as Iain.

The only son and the youngest of four, including a baby sister who died in infancy, he was educated at Carloway Primary School before attending the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway where, in common with other pupils from outlying areas, he boarded at a hostel during the week.

After completing his schooling, he joined Edinburgh City Police in 1970, leaving home with the words of his mother, who counselled him not to be out late at night, ringing in his ears. Little did she realise he would end up patrolling the then fairly notorious Lothian Road during his night shifts. He also regularly policed the city’s Hogmanay celebrations, walking home at 4am through the party detritus of litter, lost handbags and discarded high heels.

Macleoid, who combined his police career with further and higher education, was awarded Napier College’s bronze medal for SHNC Police Studies in 1976 and went on to gain a law degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1984.

During that period he was a member of the Edinburgh-Caithness Association, serving two terms as president, once in the mid-1980s and then from 2001-2002.

Meanwhile, his police career saw him progress to inspector and he regularly policed football matches and attended the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, both as a member and as the officer in charge of policing its annual Royal Highland Show. He retired from the force, which had by then become Lothian and Borders Police, in 2000 after completing 30 years’ service.

He and his wife Christine, whom he married in Wick in 1977, had two children, Màiri and Calum, who were educated through the Gaelic medium in Edinburgh, and in 1994 their father became convenor of Comann nam Pàrant (Nàiseanta), the national Gaelic Parents’ Association. He was also the first chairperson of its Edinburgh group.

In retirement he stepped up his involvement in the development of Gaelic. For many years he was Gaelic advisor on Edinburgh International Harp Festival and on the Clarsach Society’s finance and administration committees and since 2002 had been a member of Lothian Gaelic Choir, latterly serving as their Gaelic tutor.

A board member of the Gaelic language society Comunn na Gàidhlig and a member of Bòrd na Gàidhlig, Scotland’s principal public body for promoting Gaelic development, he worked diligently to maintain and raise awareness of the culture.

His contribution to the Gaelic association An Comunn Gàidhealach, which he served as a board member for many years and as president from 2007 to 2017, was applauded by the organisation’s current president Allan Campbell, who described him as a true Gael and his death as an enormous blow. Macleoid, who received Royal visits from Princes Andrew and Charles and Anne, the Princess Royal during his tenure, was also president, since 2013, of Comunn Tir nam Beann an organisation that has been promoting traditional music for almost a century.

His inclusion in the Scottish Parliament’s travelling exhibition, Moving Stories, which toured the length of the country up to Stornoway, resulted from his petitioning on Gaelic matters and his involvement in Gaelic culture in Edinburgh.

Despite all his years in the capital he remained inextricably attached to the Isle of Lewis: he was a member of the Carloway Choir and opened the Carloway Show last summer. It was only a few months later that he was awarded the Sàr Ghàidheal title by Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the University of the Highlands and Islands’ Gaelic college based in Skye.

A devout worshipper, he attended the Edinburgh Free Church and monthly Free Church Gaelic services, where he was precentor, and strictly adhered to Sabbath Observance, attending morning and evening services each week.

He is survived by his wife Christine, with whom he celebrated their ruby wedding last year, and their children Màiri and Calum.

ALISON SHAW