He was the son of the Rev.
Norman Macleod, D.D. (1745 – 1824), and father of the Rev.
Norman Macleod (1812 – 1872). MacLeod was a distinguished minister of the Scottish Church, and studied at
Edinburgh. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of
Mull in 1806. He became one of the most distinguished ministers, and most popular preachers of his Church, becoming
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1836. He was Dean of the
Chapel Royal and a trusted friend of
Queen Victoria. He preached to Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert during their second visit to Scotland in 1844. He was an enormously influential writer of
Gaelic prose, founding and editing two of the earliest Gaelic periodicals,
An Teachdaire Gaelach (
The Highland Messenger) (1829–32) and
Cuairtear nan Gleann (
The Traveller of the Glens) (1840–43), as well as later contributing to
Fear-Tathaich nam Beann (
The Mountaineer) (1848) edited by his son in law, the Rev. Archibald Clerk. He was an enthusiastic proponent of Gaelic education and the welfare of
Highlanders. As a smooth operator in church politics he secured the support of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for a Highland education scheme in 1824, with the purpose of teaching the people of the Highlands and Islands to read the
Bible,
catechism and other material in their native Gaelic. Within a few years these schools had an attendance in excess of 22,000, while other Gaelic Schools Societies and the
Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) were similarly bringing literacy in Gaelic to many more. MacLeod published a 'reader' for the General Assembly Schools in 1828. This, the periodicals, and a further collection of writings published in 1834 as
Leabhar nan Cnoc (
The Book of the Hills subtitled 'things old and new for the education and improvement of the Gael') covered a very wide range of material, from discussion of
Chartists,
Luddites and electoral reform to volcanoes and the natural world, encompassing subjects as diverse as politics, religion, current affairs, popular science,
emigration,
animal husbandry, technological developments and city life. Much of it was humorous, and written in the form of
soap opera-like sketches and letters 'home'. He conducted a preaching tour in
Ireland in the 1830s - not in English, but to
Irish-speaking districts using his own Gaelic. In conjunction with Presbyterians in
Belfast he made a translation into Irish of the
metrical psalms, although it has to be said the text is an odd hybrid of
Scottish Gaelic and Irish. Along with the Rev Prof
Daniel Dewar he produced a Gaelic-English/English-Gaelic
dictionary in 1831, reprinted 13 times between then and 1910. Shortly after his death, a collection of his Gaelic prose writings was edited by his son in law,
Archibald Clerk, with a biographical sketch by Norman MacLeod jnr., first published as
Caraid nan Gaidheal in 1867, reprinted in 1899 and 1910. A second collection was issued in 1901. Other writings include two Gaelic sermons, one on the outbreak of
cholera in
Glasgow in 1832. MacLeod used his influence to secure Government aid for the Gaels during the
potato famines of 1836-37 and 1847, earning the soubriquet, 'Caraid nan Gàidheal' (Friend of the Gael). A speech delivered in the Egyptian Room of the
Mansion House, London, resulted in
John Dunmore Lang, a Presbyterian minister in Australia, putting in place opportunities for Gaels to emigrate to Australia. ==Family==