MACGREGOR, JAMES (d. 1551), dean of Lismore, was the son of Dougall Johnson (the son of John) MacGregor by his wife, a daughter of Donald McClawe, alias Grant. This branch of the MacGregors lived at Tullichnullin, a house at Fortingall, Perthshire, and owned in perpetuity the vicarage of Fortingall with a lease of the church lands. The father was a notary public, and died after 1529. James was in all probability only in minor orders. He was a notary public in 1511, was dean of Lismore in 1514, and succeeded his father in the vicarage of Fortingall. He died in 1561, and was buried in the church at Inchordin. He was married, and had a son Gregor MacGregor. Two natural sons, Gregor and Dougall, were naturalised in 1557, Dougall being at that time chancellor of Lismore.
James MacGregor collected Gaelic poetry, and with the help of his brother Duncan transcribed what he gathered into a commonplace book, which forms a quarto of about 311 pages, written in a Roman hand. This volume, most of which was transcribed as early as 1512, came during the eighteenth century into the possession of the Highland Society of London, from which it passed to the Highland Society of Scotland, and is now in the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh. A volume of selections from it was edited, with introduction, notes, and translation, by Thomas McClauchlan and William F. Skene (Edinburgh, 1862, 8vo). It is of great philological value, and illustrates the relations between Western Scotland and Ireland from an early date.
[Edition of the Dean of Lismore's book by McClauchlan and Skene; Proc. Soc. Antiq. of Scotland, 11. i. 35; Dublin Univ. Mag. lxiii. 95 sq.]
MACGREGOR, JOHN (1797–1867), statistician and historian, eldest son of David MacGregor of Drynie, near Stornoway, Rossshire, born at Drynie. in 1797, emigrated as a young man to Canada and settled in Prince Edward Island, where he became a member of the House of Assembly, and in 1823 served the office of high sheriff. He also travelled through great part of British North America and the United States, collecting statistics. On his return to Europe about 1825 he published 'Historical and Descriptive Sketches of the Maritime Colonies of British America,' London, 1828, 8 vo and 12mo; and 'Observations' on Emigration to British America,' London, 1829, 8vo. In 1830 he made a tour on the continent of Europe, a narrative of which he published, under the title 'My Note-book,' in 1835, London, 3 vols. 8vo. In concert with his friend James Deacon Hume [q. v.] he projected in 1832 a vast work on the commercial statistics of all nations, the compilation of which occupied him during the next seven years, in the course of which he visited most of the countries of Europe. In 1839 he represented the British government in the negotiations with the kingdom of Naples for a revision of the commercial treaty of 1816. In 1840 he succeeded James Deacon Hume as one of the joint secretaries of the board of trade. A strong free-trader, he prompted Joseph Hume's motion for a select committee on import duties, and gave evidence before the committee (July 1840), which was felt as a severe blow to protection. During his tenure of office he embodied the results of his statistical researches in twenty-two parliamentary reports on 'Commercial Tariffs and Regulations of the several States of Europe and America, together with the Commercial Treaties between England and - Foreign Countries,' published, with appendix, in 8 vols. 8vo, London, 1841-60; and in 'A Digest of the Productive Resources, Commercial Legislation, Customs Tariffs, Navigation, Port and Quarantine Laws and Charges, Shipping, Imports and Exports,' and the Monies, Weights, and Measures of all Nations, including all British Commercial Treaties with Foreign States, collected from Authentic Records, and consolidated with especial reference to British and Foreign Products, Trade, and Navigation,' London, 1844-8, 3 vols. 8vo.
On the repeal of the corn laws MacGregor threw up his post at the board of trade, and entered parliament (July 1847) as member for Glasgow, which constituency he represented until shortly before his death. He spoke frequently on commercial, financial, and colonial questions, dreamed of a place in the cabinet, and established the reputation of a bore.' He was the principal promoter and sometime chairman of the Royal British Bank, incorporated by royal charter in 1849, which, though far from prosperous, he egregiously puffed in a chapter on 'Banking' contributed to Freedley's 'Money' in 1853. He was also a party to the publication of accounts which concealed. the true position of the bank. It stopped payment in September 1856, and MacGregor, who had absconded shortly before, died at Boulogne on 23 April 1857, indebted to the bank in the sum of 7,362l.
Besides the works mentioned above, MacGregor published:
- 'British America,' Edinburgh, 1832, 2 vols. 8vo.
- 'The Resources and Statistics of Nations, exhibiting
