John Macleod, sometimes John Macleod of Gartymore, (8 August 1862 – 1 April 1931) was MP for

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire ( ...

, representing the

Crofters Party The Crofters' Party was the parliamentary arm of the Highland Land League. It managed to elect five MPs in the 1885 general election and a sixth the following year. The Highland Land League had started on the isle of Skye and in 1884 protest ac ...

(allied to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

). Macleod was born at

Helmsdale Helmsdale ( sco, Helmsdal, gd, Bun Ilidh) is a village on the east coast of Sutherland, in the Highland council area of Scotland. The modern village was planned in 1814 to resettle communities that had been removed from the surrounding straths a ...

in 1862 (though he often stated 1863 in later life), the son of John and Ann McLeod. His father was a fish-curer. He trained in Glasgow as an analytical chemist, then after further study in London worked for a Welsh gold-mining company at

Gwynfynydd Gwynfynydd Gold Mine is near Ganllwyd, Dolgellau, Gwynedd, Wales. The lode, which was discovered in 1860, was worked from 1884. It has produced more than 45,000 troy ounces of Welsh gold until mining ceased in 1998. The equivalent of 1,400 ...

and Glasdir. They sent him to Sutherland in around 1882 to investigate the potential for gold mines at Kildonan, where there had been a minor gold rush in the late 1860s. While working there, he attended a public meeting of the

Napier Commission The Napier Commission, officially the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands was a royal commission and public inquiry into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and ...

and became active in the land reform movement. Through the 1880s, he campaigned for the

Highland Land League The first Highland Land League ( gd, Dionnasg an Fhearainn) emerged as a distinct political force in Scotland during the 1880s, with its power base in the country's Highlands and Islands. It was known also as the Highland Land Law Reform Associat ...

, and was one of the founders of the Sutherland county branch of the movement. He was the campaign agent for Angus Sutherland in the 1885 and 1886 general elections, when Sutherland was elected as the Crofters candidate for the county. In 1888 he moved to Inverness, where he became an editor of the ''

Highland News Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

''. He was again active in the county Liberal association, and helped support the election of Donald MacGregor there in 1892. In 1893 he was elected as a representative for Lewis – where he had never visited – on the

Ross-shire Ross-shire (; gd, Siorrachd Rois) is a historic county in the Scottish Highlands. The county borders Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire – a county consisting of ...

county council, and appointed Secretary of the Highland Land League. When Angus Sutherland stood down as an MP in 1894, Macleod was well-placed to secure the Liberal nomination as his successor. He was challenged by Dr. Donald Murray of Brora (later to become MP for the Western Isles), who felt that the county should have consulted more widely before selecting a candidate. Murray stood down in the interests of party unity, though not without a public rebuke to Macleod and his use of the ''Highland News''. Following this, Macleod was returned unopposed as the Crofters/Liberal candidate. At the 1895 general election he was returned with 65% of the vote, a comfortable majority over the

Liberal Unionist The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a political ...

candidate, though slightly reduced from Sutherland's 72% in 1886 and 17% in 1892. In the 1900 general election, however, he was defeated by the Liberal Unionist Frederick Leveson-Gower, a relative of the

Duke of Sutherland Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made t ...

, taking only 38% of the vote. After leaving Parliament, he appears to have remained in London, where he is found working as a journalist in the 1901 and 1911 censuses. He died at

Claybury Hospital Claybury Hospital was a psychiatric hospital in Woodford Bridge, London. It was built to a design by the English architect George Thomas Hine who was a prolific Victorian architect of hospital buildings. It was opened in 1893 making it the Fift ...

, a psychiatric institution in London, on 1 April 1931; he had been a patient there since at least 1929.1901 and 1911 censuses; death certificate; will and probate record

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macleod, John Crofters Party MPs Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies 1862 births 1931 deaths UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900 People from Helmsdale