Roderick Mackinnon was a son of Roderick Mackinnon and Marion Mackenzie, 16 Marvig.

The family moved to 24 Marvig in the 1920s.

In Lochs, in 1937, he married Katie Maggie Macritchie, 38 Gravir. Roderick and Katie Maggie settled in Kinlochleven, and had at least one child.

He served with the Cameron Highlanders during the Second World War. Roderick was held as a prisoner of war in Poland from June 1941 to December 1944.