Roderick MacLeod

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This so ...

(1754-1801) he was Principal of Kings College, Aberdeen 1800 to 1815.

Life

He was born in 1727 the third son of Christina and Donald MacLeod, Laird of Talisker, Skye. Roderick had three siblings. He studied at

Aberdeen University , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

graduating MA in 1746. From 1749 he was Professor of Philosophy at Kings College, Aberdeen, In 1764 he was elected Sub Principal and after 36 years in this role was elected Principal in place of John Chalmers, holding this role until death. In 1783 (on the day of its foundation) he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

but he is not listed as a Founder. Aberdeen University gave him an honorary doctorate (DD) in 1793. He died on 11 September 1815. He is buried in the enclosed area to the east of

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral usually called Old Machar (Scottish Gaelic: Cathair-eaglais Naomh Machar), (or, more formally, the Cathedral Church of St Machar) is a Church of Scotland church in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is located to the north of the ...

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It ...

Family

In June 1780 he married Isobel or Isabella Christie (1760-1832), daughter of Dr Christie of Baberton. They had ten children, six of whom survived to adulthood. Most notable were Christian MacLeod who married Hugh Macpherson, Professor of Greek at King's College, Aberdeen; and Isabelle MacLeod who married Arthur Forbes son of Sir Arthur Forbes of Craigievar; Dr Roderick MacLeod (1785-1852) died in London.Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana vol.7 by Hew Scott Roderick's wife remarried after his death and had two further children.

Artistic recognition

His portrait is held by the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

but is rarely displayed.

References

1754 births 1815 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the University of Aberdeen Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh {{UK-reli-bio-stub