Sometime tacksman of Canna, the westernmost of the Small Isles archiepelago south of Skye. Son of Alexander Macleod (d. ca. 1758), a Skyeman educated at King’s College, Aberdeen.
The last descendant of William Macleod of the Macleods of Meidle and Glendale, who was killed at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.1 According to a footnote in the To the Hebrides edition of Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, Ronald Macdonald of Clanranald gave a lease of Keill and other lands of Canna to a certain Donald MacLeod for three nineteen-year terms, dating from Whitsuntide 1760, on June 22, 1761.
- 1According to the History of the Macleods (1889) by Alexander Mackenzie.
Boswell and Dr Johnson met Macleod at Armadale, where they were hosted by Sir Alexander Macdonald, on September 2, 1773. Boswell, in his journal, initially described him as "a very genteel man", but deleted the compliment shortly after writing it. On September 6, MacLeod set out with them acting as their guide on their continuing journey north towards the Isle of Raasay.
On September 10, Boswell went out to explore the island of Raasay in the company of Macleod (Canna), John Macqueen, Malcolm MacLeod, and Boswell's servant Joseph.