Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

James Farquharson Macleod (c. September 25, 1836 – September 5, 1894), born in Drynoch,

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, was a militia officer, lawyer,

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territo ...

officer, magistrate, judge, and politician in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. He served as the second full Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police, from July 22, 1876, to October 31, 1880.

Fort Macleod Fort Macleod ( ) is a town in southern Alberta, Canada. It was originally named Macleod to distinguish it from the North-West Mounted Police barracks (Fort Macleod, built 1874) it had grown around. The fort was named in honour of the then Commis ...

and

Macleod Trail Macleod Trail is a major road in Calgary, Alberta. It is a six- to eight-lane principal arterial road extending from downtown Calgary to the south of the city, where it merges into Highway 2. South of Anderson Road, Macleod Trail is an express ...

, a major

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

thoroughfare, are named after him. In 1887, Macleod was appointed to the

Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories The Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories is the name of two different superior courts for the Canadian territory of the Northwest Territories, which have existed at different times. The first Supreme Court of the North-West Territories was cr ...

, which then included what is now known as Alberta and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. He held this position until his death in 1894. He is buried in Union Cemetery in Calgary.

Education

Macleod immigrated with his family from Scotland in 1845, when his father purchased a farm at

Richmond Hill, Ontario Richmond Hill ( 2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 27th most populous municipality in Canada. Ric ...

. Macleod attended

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and then Queen's University in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Tor ...

. He graduated in 1854 from Queen's with a B.A. in classics and philosophy and then enrolled in 1856 at

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgood ...

to attend law school. He graduated with an LL.B. in 1860 and articled with the law office of Alexander Campbell. It was also sometime around this time that he joined the

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants, particularly those of Ulster Scots people, Ulster Sco ...

, L.O.L. 141, as was common of Canadian Ulster-Scots at the time. Before law school during the summer of 1856, against the wishes of his parents, Macleod joined the Volunteer Militia Field Battery of Kingston as a lieutenant and his enthusiasm was such that his brother-in-law William Augustus Baldwin persuaded Governor General Sir

Edmund Walker Head Sir Edmund Walker Head, 8th Baronet, KCB (16 February 1805 – 28 January 1868) was a 19th-century British politician and diplomat. Early life and scholarship Head was born at Wiarton Place, near Maidstone, Kent, the son of the Reverend Sir J ...

to offer Macleod a commission in the British army. His father insisted that the offer be refused.

Military service

From 1860 to 1870 Macleod practiced law in

Bowmanville, Ontario Bowmanville is a town of approximately 40,000 people located in the Municipality of Clarington, Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately east of Toronto, and east of Oshawa along Highway 2. Bowmanville was first incorporated as a ...

, but during that time he retained an interest in the militia. He transferred in 1862 to the Bowmanville Volunteer Militia Rifle Company and was promoted to captain in 1863 and major in 1866 when the Bowmanville company became part of the newly formed

45th West Durham Battalion of Infantry The Victoria and Haliburton Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia of the Canadian Militia (now the Canadian Army). In 1936, the regiment was Converted from Infantry to Artillery to become the 45th Field Battery RC ...

. Active service during the

Trent Affair The ''Trent'' Affair was a diplomatic incident in 1861 during the American Civil War that threatened a war between the United States and Great Britain. The U.S. Navy captured two Confederate envoys from a British Royal Mail steamer; the Brit ...

in 1861 and the Fenian Raids of 1866 confirmed his interest in the military. In 1870, he obtained a commission as

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section dire ...

with the

Wolseley expedition The Wolseley expedition was a military force authorized by Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald to confront Louis Riel and the Métis in 1870, during the Red River Rebellion, at the Red River Colony in what is now the province of Manitob ...

which was sent to quell the

Red River Rebellion The Red River Rebellion (french: Rébellion de la rivière Rouge), also known as the Red River Resistance, Red River uprising, or First Riel Rebellion, was the sequence of events that led up to the 1869 establishment of a provisional government by ...

. After returning from the Red River in 1871, Macleod was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and became the commanding officer of the 45th West Durham Battalion.

North-West Mounted Police

James served as Commissioner of the NWMP from 1876 to 1880.

Northwest Territories Legislature

James was appointed the

Legislative Assembly of Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, or Legislative Council of the Northwest Territories (with Northwest hyphenated as North-West until 1906), is the legislature and the seat of government of Northwest Territories in Canada. It is a uni ...

on October 7, 1876, to serve as one of the first three members on the permanent Northwest Territories Council. He served as a regular appointed member until 1881, when he was appointed as a Stipendiary Magistrate. He served as such until the 1st Northwest Territories general election. He was reappointed to the Assembly as one of three Legal Advisors, a non-voting at-large position created to help the assembly make the transition. The position was abolished when the legislature was dissolved in 1891, ending 15 years of service with the legislature.

Personal life

On July 28, 1876, Macleod married pioneer Mary Isabella Drever, who he first met in Spring 1871. They settled in

and had four daughters and one son.

References

*
Mounted Policemen of Calgary's Cemeteries: James Macleod
Retrieved: March 16, 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, James 1836 births 1894 deaths People from the Isle of Skye People of the Fenian raids Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioners Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories Upper Canada College alumni Judges in the Northwest Territories Scottish emigrants to Canada Canadian Militia officers