Rob Roy (Robert Roy MacGregor; 7 March 1671 – 28 December 1734) was a Scottish tacksman and cattle-dealer who became an outlaw and — over time — a celebrated folk hero of the Highlands. His life combined clan leadership, cattle protection and raiding, involvement in Jacobite risings, a long private feud with James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose, imprisonment and eventual pardon.
Biography[]
Rob Roy was born at Glengyle, at the head of Loch Katrine to Donald Glas MacGregor, a local Clan MacGregor tacksman, and Margaret Campbell. The MacGregors were an old Highland family; because the name MacGregor had been proscribed at times, Rob Roy sometimes used the name Campbell.
As a young man he served with Highland forces during the Jacobite turbulence of the late 17th century: at 18 he and his father took part in the 1689 rising under John Graham of Claverhouse (Viscount Dundee). Like many tacksmen he built his living on hillcraft, cattle-rearing and the commonplace Highland practice of offering protection (and retrieving stolen stock) for local herds. He later borrowed heavily to expand his herd; when the money entrusted to a herder vanished, Rob Roy defaulted on a loan and his principal creditor, James Graham, later Duke of Montrose, seized his lands. Rob Roy claimed Montrose then tried to force him into perjury; when he refused he was driven into outlawry and waged a private feud against Montrose, raiding cattle and rents in retaliation.
In January 1693 he married Mary MacGregor of Comar; the couple had four sons (James, Ranald, Coll and Robert, the younger "Young Rob"). Over the years Rob Roy combined lawful cattle-dealing with extralegal activity typical of the period — including protection rackets and cattle retrieval — and at times fought on both sides of the larger Jacobite conflicts. He saw action in later Jacobite engagements (including involvement related to the 1715 rising and the 1719 Battle of Glen Shiel), and his position alternated between sheltered ally of powerful patrons and hunted outlaw.
Following protracted pressure and a long feud with Montrose, Rob Roy surrendered in 1722, was imprisoned for a time, and was finally pardoned in 1727. He spent his last years on the Braes of Balquhidder; according to contemporary accounts he died on 28 December 1734 after an illness exacerbated by age and a severe winter. In his final years he is said to have converted to Roman Catholicism.
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