Flora MacLeod of MacLeod

Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod, DBE (3 February 1878 – 4 November 1976) was the 28th chief of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan Castle in Skye is the 800-year-old MacLeod family seat.

Early years

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] In 1901 she married Hubert Walter, a journalist at The Times, with whom she had two daughters.^[2] When her father, Sir Reginald MacLeod, became chief of the Clan MacLeod in 1929, she was elected President of the clan's society and went to live with her father at Dunvegan Castle in Skye, where she became a county councillor.

As the MacLeod clan chief

On the death of her father in 1935 Flora MacLeod inherited the estate and was recognised as 28th Clan Chief. Years later, to raise income, she opened Dunvegan Castle to tourists, turning it into a popular tourist attraction.^[3] Following World War II she travelled widely, establishing Clan MacLeod Societies throughout the British Commonwealth.

Death

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 near Dunvegan.

Successor

John MacLeod (born John Wolrige-Gordon, 10 August 1935 — died 12 February 2007, aged 71) succeeded Dame Flora, his grandmother.^[4]

Legacy

The Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod Trophy for Open Piobaireachd^[5] has been presented, since 1969, to the best bagpiper at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games in North Carolina, USA.

Coat of arms

Her 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

1. ↑ Biodata
2. ↑ "Hubert Walter". New York Times. 22 December 1933. p. 21. Retrieved March 8, 2015. 
3. ↑ Tours by Dame Flora MacLeod
4. ↑ The Peerage website
5. ↑ "www.clanmacleodusa.org". www.clanmacleodusa.org. Retrieved 2012-04-30. 

External links

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