Francis Gregor (1 June 1760 – 12 July 1815) was an English landowner in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, Member of Parliament for the Cornwall county constituency from 1790 to 1806.

Life

Gregor was born on 1 June 1760 in

Trewarthenick Trewarthenick () is a hamlet in the civil parish of Tregony in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom.Ordnance Survey ''One-inch Map of Great Britain; Truro and Falmouth, sheet 190''. 1961 Trewarthenick lies within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding N ...

, the son of Cpt Francis Gregor (born 1728), owner of the Trewarthenick Estate and Mary Copley. His younger brother was the Rev.

William Gregor William Gregor (25 December 1761 – 11 June 1817) was a British clergyman and mineralogist who discovered the elemental metal Titanium. Early years He was born at the Trewarthenick Estate in Cornwall, the son of Francis Gregor and Mary C ...

, the mineralogist. He was educated at

Truro Grammar School Truro Cathedral School was a Church of England school for boys in Truro, Cornwall. An ancient school refounded in 1549 as the Truro Grammar School, after the establishment of Truro Cathedral in the last quarter of the 19th century it was responsi ...

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

, where he graduated B.A. as third wrangler in 1782, before being admitted to study law at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1783. He was

High Sheriff of Cornwall Sheriffs and high sheriffs of Cornwall: a chronological list: The right to choose high sheriffs each year is vested in the Duchy of Cornwall. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom, Privy Council, chaired by the sovereign, chooses the sheriff ...

in 1788–1789, and on 10 July 1790 was elected as one of the

knights of the shire Knight of the shire () was the formal title for a member of parliament (MP) representing a county constituency in the British House of Commons, from its origins in the medieval Parliament of England until the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 en ...

for

, " after a severe and protracted contest".Burke's ''Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry 1847''. on Googlebooks, (Accessed 20 March 2008)
/ref> Elected unopposed in 1796 and 1802, he retired from the House of Commons in 1806. In 1802 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) 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 establis ...

his proposers being

Dugald Stewart Dugald Stewart (; 22 November 175311 June 1828) was a Scottish philosopher and mathematician. Today regarded as one of the most important figures of the later Scottish Enlightenment, he was renowned as a populariser of the work of Francis Hutc ...

, Alexander Fraser Tytler and

Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet Sir William Arbuthnot, 1st Baronet of Edinburgh FRSE (24 December 1766 – 18 September 1829) was a Scottish landowner and politician. He served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh and Lord Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh. Early life William w ...

. Gregor was married twice: first to Catherine, daughter of William Masterman, of

Restormel Castle Restormel Castle () lies by the River Fowey near Lostwithiel in Cornwall, England, UK. It is one of the four chief Normans, Norman castles of Cornwall, the others being Launceston Castle, Launceston, Tintagel Castle, Tintagel and Trematon Castl ...

; second, in 1795, to Jane, daughter of William Urquhart, of Craigston, Aberdeenshire. He died 12 July 1815 at the age of 55. At his death, his brother, William, inherited the Trewarthenick Estate. His ''Works'' were published by Thomas Flindell of Exeter, by subscription, in 1816. The book was reviewed in ''The Augustan Review'' in 1816. The review includes substantial extracts from the book and an obituary notice (stating that he studied at Cambridge and the Inns of Court).The Augustan Review Vol 3, Jul to December 1816, pp 487-493.
(Accessed 20 March 2008). Three volumes of the ''Augustan Review'' were published from May 1815 to December 1816.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregor, Francis 1760 births 1815 deaths Politicians from Cornwall Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for constituencies in Cornwall British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Cornwall UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge People educated at Bristol Grammar School People educated at Truro Cathedral School High sheriffs of Cornwall