Rob Roy MacGregor

"MACGREGOR DESPITE THEM". The three-word epitaph at the ancient grave in little Balquhidder kirk speaks for a nation. Few individuals can claim to represent the spirit of a nation or culture. Scotland’s Rob Roy MacGregor easily carries the weighty honor of being Scotland’s cultural hero. The combination of Rob Roy’s assigned Highlander traits—fierce independence, cleverness, roguery, strength, loyalty, pride, and bravery—may be defined as the idealized character of the Scots. The traits were assigned by no less than Sir Walter Scott, Hollywood, and the Scottish legend himself. Rob Roy MacGregor was born 1671 along pretty Loch Katrine in Glen Gyle, the valley between Balquhidder and Loch Lomond. Third son of a military officer, Rob Roy fought for Scottish independence on the side of the Scottish royalty—the Stewarts—against the forces of William and Mary at Killiecrankie in 1689. During this time his fame as a warrior began to spread. When the Jacobites—the Stewart supporters—lost their struggle to regain the British throne, many Highland clans were forced give up their names, and many Highlanders changed their names to those of the pro-English clans. When the MacGregor name was outlawed in 1694, Rob Roy occasionally took on his mother’s clan’s name, Campbell, name of a Highland clan that had long supported English domination of the Highlands. Rob Roy exchanged his political concerns for those of hearth and home, building up his father’s "cattle business", which often included rustling cattle from neighbors and surrounding territories. Rob Roy probably practiced the venerable—and widely accepted—Highland techniques of blackmail and bribery to achieve his goals. So normal was the practice that so glorious a military unit as Scotland’s Highland Black Watch, which had been formed in 1725 to guard against cattle thieving, were known accept pay to look the other way. Hard times and lean years forced Rob Roy to raid Scotland’s southern Lowlands for cattle. He became so successful at rustling even entire herds without getting caught that his reputation impressed the region’s most powerful landowner, the Duke of Montrose. In 1711, Montrose offered Rob Roy a business opportunity to buy and fatten up a herd of sturdy cattle, to be resold for profit. But when Rob Roy sent one of his trusted men to collect £1,000 from Montrose to purchase the cattle, the man ran off with the money, leaving MacGregor holding the bag. An angry Montrose declared MacGregor an outlaw, seized his land and burned down his house. For eight years Rob Roy lived the outlaw life, avoiding capture—sometimes by the slimmest of margins—and gaining legendary status in the Highlands. A vengeful Rob Roy—along with as many as 500 supporters—performed many successful raids against Montrose, and once more took up the Stewart cause by participating in several Jacobite battles. By 1720 Rob Roy had earned considerable notoriety for his open defiance of the British and was growing weary of life on the lam. He returned home to his family farm in Balquhidder Glen and attempted to live again in peace. The memories of his enemies were not short, however, and in 1725 Rob Roy turned himself in to English General Wade. He was charged with high treason against the Crown and put in London’s infamous Newgate prison. Like many anti-English Highlanders who were exiled to other parts of the Empire—often Canada, and Ireland—Rob Roy was to become an indentured servant—in the Barbados. However, MacGregor received a King’s pardon in 1727 before deportation, and returned to finish his life in Balquhidder, where he died of natural causes in 1734. Ironically, Rob Roy owes his continued legend more to one Lowland Scot (Sir Walter Scott), two English writers (Daniel Defoe and William Wordsworth), and Hollywood movies than he does his Highland neighbors