Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 9 on 20/7/2003.

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The stuff of legends

ROB ROY MACGREGOR ATTRACTED HERO STATUS EVEN IN HIS OWN LIFETIME, AND IT HAS GROWN EVER SINCE. SO HOW CLOSE TO TRUTH ARE THE STORIES?

Few Scottish characters have been accredited with more heroic exploits and stories than Roy MacGregor – known as Rob Roy because of his striking red hair. His dramatic life was to capture the public imagination even during his own lifetime.

But for all the tales, captured in writing and more recently on film, how much do we really know about the man who was born in 1671 and died peacefully at home 63 years later?

Depending on what you read, Rob Roy was either a thief and common criminal or a dedicated family man and businessman forced into a life of crime.

What we know as fact is that he was essentially a farmer and cattle dealer with strong leadership and business skills.

Well-educated, he had a reputation for retrieving lost cattle and ran a profitable business protecting other people’s herds – a common, if dubious, practice of the time.

The MacGregors were protestant and had a long history of rebelliousness. Their ancestors were Celtic kings. A feud with the Colquhouns led to the whole clan being outlawed at the start of the 17th century, and from then on, they were known as ‘the children of the mist’.

Rob Roy was to follow a lawless path, though it would seem that it was thrust upon him through circumstances.

So good had he become at cattle droving that his landlord, the Marquess of Montrose, invested heavily in the business. But the money was stolen and MacGregor was blamed.

He fled, but Montrose took his revenge by having his home burned. There are also suggest.....

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By Dominic Roskrow

Section : Remarkable Scots

Page number : 82