Donald Gregory (1803–1836) was a Scottish historian and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

, who published a valuable history of the Western

Highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Africa * Highlands, Johannesburg, South Africa * Highlands, Harare, Zimbab ...

and Isles of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Origins

Gregory was a younger son of Dr James Gregory (1753–1821), a leading Scottish physician, by his second wife Isabella Macleod (1772–1847), and was one of no fewer than eleven children. His twin brother, William Gregory, was a notable chemist. His grandfather, John Gregory (1724–1773), was a notable physician and moralist and his grandfather’s grandfather, James Gregory (1638–1675) was a mathematician and astronomer. Gregory was accordingly born into Scottish academic purple. Donald lived at the family home of 10 Ainslie Place in the Moray Estate in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

for all of his later life.

Career

Gregory became joint secretary to the

Society of Antiquaries of Scotland The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is the senior antiquarian body of Scotland, with its headquarters in the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The Society's aim is to promote the cultural heritage of Scotland. The usu ...

in 1828 and sole secretary in 1830. He was also secretary to the Iona Club (devoted to the history, antiquities and early literature of the Scottish Highlands and publishers of the Collectanea de Rebus Albanicis), an honorary member of the

Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora (poem), Temora'' (1763), and later c ...

ic Society of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and of the

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, the oldest provincial antiquarian society in England, was founded in 1813. It is a registered charity under English law. It has had a long-standing interest in the archaeology of the North East ...

, and a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North at

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. In 1831, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland published Gregory’s ''Historical Notices of the

Clan Gregor Clan Gregor, also known as Clan MacGregor, is a Scottish Highlands, Highland Scottish clan that claims an origin in the early 9th century. The clan's most famous member is Rob Roy MacGregor of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The clan ...

'', at the outset of which he noted that

The total want of private papers and title-deeds connected with the different branches of this family … and the defective state of the earlier records of Scotland, in relation more especially to the Highlands, have made this investigation no easy task.

Gregory’s attachment to contemporary documentary evidence was remarkable for his time. The Edinburgh Literary Journal described his work as “the first instance on record of a trustworthy history of a Highland clan resting upon contemporary evidence”.''The Edinburgh Literary Journal'' (January 1831 – June 1831), at page 365 In the year before his death, Gregory published his most substantial and famous work, a ''History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland from AD 1493 to AD 1625''. Nearly 170 years later, a historian of the same period commented that his views on Highland history “still command respect”. In his preface, Gregory explained why he had chosen to focus only on the Western part of the Highlands, describing its separate development and observing:

...during a great portion of the period I have endeavoured to illustrate, the Western Clans had a common object which frequently united them in hostility to the government. In this way, the measures employed at first for their coercion, and afterwards for their advancement in civilization, came naturally to be separate from those directed to the subjugation (if I may use the phrase) and improvement of the Eastern tribes.

He attributed his focus on the years between 1493 and 1625 to the sparseness of previous historical treatment of the period - describing it "as nearly as possible a perfect blank" - and added:

...when I discovered that our national records and other sources of authentic information were full of interesting and important matter bearing upon this portion of the history of the West Highlands and Isles, I no longer hesitated.

Gregory also found time to interest himself in such diverse matters as the skulls of ancient druids, the history of archery in Scotland, the history of Clan Chattan and the life of Bishop Carswell. He was called as an authority on historical manuscripts and a hand-writing expert by the pursuers who successfully alleged forgery in the Stirling Peerage Case. Gregory died in Edinburgh on 21 October 1836.The Annual Register (London, 1837), Appendix to Chronicle, at page 215 He is buried in the family plot with his siblings and next to his parents in the south-west corner of Canongate Churchyard, immediately next to the grave of

Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...

. The specific grave also contains his brother Dr James Crawford Gregory.

References

External links

*Donald Gregory
''Historical notices of the clan Gregor''
(Edinburgh, 1831) *Donald Gregory
''History of the Western Highlands and Isles of Scotland''
(William Tait, Edinburgh, 1836) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Donald 19th-century Scottish antiquarians Scottish genealogists 1836 deaths 1803 births Burials at the Canongate Kirkyard Scottish twins