People on board

MacLEOD, Donald

Donald MacLeod was born about 1897 in Uig, isle of Lewis on the Outer Hebrides. His personal details have not been confirmed as there were several men of that name and age from that area who fought in the war. His original military records have not been found so transcripts are being relied on. His father’s name was Malcolm and his family were living in the district of Carloway on the west coast of Lewis, where fishing and crofting were the principal occupations.

Donald MacLeod appears to have enlisted in the Cameron Highlanders at Inverness, one source saying that he did so at the age of fourteen. There is a report in August 1917 that he had been wounded, but with no additional details.  In October 1918 he was a Sergeant in the 3rd Reserve Battalion which had been stationed in Ireland from November 1917.

The War Office Weekly Casualty List of the 17th of December 1918 named him as being ‘Missing Believed Drowned’, along with two others from the Cameron Highlanders, Privates Limbert and Mack. The Military Adjutant on board RMS Leinster on the 10th of October, Lieutenant Hugh Parker, also from the Camerons, survived the sinking.

Donald MacLeod’s name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton and also on a family gravestone in Dalmore Cemetery, near Uig. However it is not clear how he is related to the other MacLeod names on the stone.