IN our last we intimated the death of the Rev. Alexander Macgregor, M.A.,
of the West Church, Inverness, on the 19th of October last, from a stroke
of paralysis. We then scarcely realised the great loss which Inverness and
the Highlands had suffered, and we have not done so in its full extent
even yet. It is, indeed, difficult to realise that we shall never again
see him in the flesh. He who for years scarcely failed to make his daily
call, until within the last twelve months, when he was perceptibly getting
more frail and we were a little further out of his way. Even then he would
pay a visit two or three times a-week, and have his interesting chat, his
quiet, enjoyable laugh, and his puff, for he heartily enjoyed the calumet
of peace, though he never carried pipe nor tobacco. His fund of anecdote,
Highland story and tradition, was inexhaustible; and the various incidents
in his own life-experience, which he enjoyed to recapitulate in his
characteristically modest and charming style to his more intimate friends,
were delightful and most instructive to listen to.
He was for ever doing good. The number of letters, petitions, and
recommendations which he has written for the poor is scarcely credible.
No one asked for such favours in vain from him. He was the means of
starting many a young man in a successful career, especially young men
from the Isle of Skye, among whom maybe mentioned Mr Rowland Hill
Macdonald, of the Glasgow Post-Office, and Mr Matheson, Collector of
Customs at Perth. He often related the particulars of their humble
beginnings; how he was instrumental in securing their first civil
appointments, and how interested he continued to feel in their success
in life; and, were this the place, the story would well bear the telling
much to his and their honour. Among other acts of goodness he succeeded
in securing pensions, of £ioo each, for the late Misses Maccaskill, and
for years before their death he personally drew the money for them.
In his ministerial sphere his labours were incessant. He was always in a
hurry, visiting the dying, the poor, or the distressed in spirit; going
to a marriage, a baptism, or a funeral. And it made not the slightest
difference to what faith they belonged.
The sympathies of his large heart extended to every denomination,
Catholic, Episcopalian, or Dissenter; while, at the same time, he stood
firmly by his own beloved Kirk, and fully believed in her as the Church
of Scotland. Though his own congregation in recent years largely
increased—more than double during the last fifteen—he was as often
consoling the last moments of the dying of other denominations as those
of his own flock. He was ever in request at the supreme moment to sooth
and encourage. He left those of his cloth who had been cast in a more
contracted ecclesiastical mould to thunder out the law. His favourite
theme was the Saviour and His Gospel of love and peace to men. He was
constantly smoothing away any difficulties occurring between his
friends, and he almost invariably succeeded in bringing them again
together. Some of his most intimate personal favourites were adherents
of other denominations; and you were as sure to meet him at the funeral
of a Roman Catholic as at that of a Presbyterian. His large heart, his
truly catholic spirit, his boundless charity knew not the mean, selfish,
repulsive creed of those that would scarcely admit to Heaven any one but
those who could see eye to eye with them in mere matters of
ecclesiastical form and ceremony. When a boy we would run a mile off the
road to escape meeting the minister. Children almost adored Mr
Macgregor. They would run after him, meet, and cling to him. He loved
them; they instinctively knew it; and they loved him in return; and
there are no better judges of the man who deserves to be loved than they
are. He endeared himself, in short, to all who knew him—old and young.
We must, however, now deal more with his career as a
minister and a man who left his mark, deeply impressed, especially on
the literature of the Highlands. And we cannot more appropriately
introduce the subject than by quoting a letter from the Rev. Robert
Neil, minister of Glengairn, a gentleman who occasionally corresponded
with our revered friend in his latter years. Mr Neil writes under date
of 28th October:-
I was truly sorry to hear of the death of your much
esteemed contributor, the Rev. A. Macgregor, an event which has called
up many tender recollections in this, his native glen. As there will, no
doubt, be a lengthened notice of him in an early number of the CeItic
Magazine, I beg to communicate certain facts in his family history in
correction of several mistaken statements made in the newspaper notices
of his death. His father, the Rev. Robert Macgregor, came from
Perthshire in the end of the last century to be Missionary on the Royal
Bounty at Glengairn, and continued there until 29th December 1822, when
he left to be minister of Kilmuir, in the Isle of Skye. During his
residence in Glengairn he became exceedingly popular both as a preacher
and as a member of society, and his memory is still fondly cherished by
not a few of the older inhabitants who have a vivid recollection of his
pulpit ministrations, and of the kindly way in which he mingled with
them in their joys and in their sorrows.
His lately deceased son was born in the Mission House
in 1808, I believe, and he is also well remembered by several of his
surviving school-fellows, by whom he was much beloved.
Besides preaching in Gaelic and English, his father
taught a school through the week, and, as he was possessed of no mean
scholarly attainments, he was enabled to impart to his son in early life
that sound education which in after days bore such ample fruits. His
excellent management in financial affairs is likewise worthy of record.
Although his stipend here never exceeded sixty pounds, yet on that small
sum he brought up a large family, and saved what was considered at the
time of his leaving for Skye no trifling amount.
Young Macgregor entered the University of Aberdeen
when a mere boy, and matriculated at King's College at the early age of
twelve, two years before his father removed to Skye. Here he made the
acquaintance of the famous Celtic scholar, Ewen Maclachlan, then Rector
of the Grammar School, and the leading spirit in the Aberdeen Highland
Association of his day. Mr Macgregor delighted to relate the
circumstances connected with his first interview with his distinguished
brother Celt, and tell how, under Maclachlan's influence, was fanned the
natural love which even then existed in his own youthful bosom for the
language, literature, and antiquities of the Highlanders. He regularly
attended the University, graduating in due course, after having carried
away several valuable prizes for distinction in natural philosophy and
mathematics. Having gone through the usual course in the Divinity Hall,
he returned to Skye, was duly licensed as assistant to his father, and
soon became a very popular preacher. In one day he received
presentations to no less than three charges, one of which was to
Applecross, and another to the Parish of Kilmuir, as colleague and
successor to his father, which he accepted, and to which he was ordained
in 1844. Here he continued for several years, imbibing the fountain of
his affection in after years for his beloved "Isle of Mist" and its
people, and gathering the vast stores of traditionary Gaelic legend and
lore, with which he afterwards, in these pages and elsewhere, delighted
so many thousands of his countrymen. He continued in Kilmuir until his
father's death; but soon afterwards received a call to the Gaelic
Church, Edinburgh, which he accepted. He then removed, with some
reluctance, from his beloved Isle to minister to his Gaelic countrymen
in the Scottish metropolis.
In 1853, on the death of the Rev.
Alexander Clarke, he was presented to the West Church, Inverness, where
he ceaselessly ministered to a devoted and steadily increasing
congregation until a week before his death. He was the most loveable
man, and the best beloved in the Highland Capital. As the Courier
prettily and accurately puts it—
His quiet and pleasant manner, and the kindly
interest which he took in the concerns of his parishioners were not
assumed for the occasion, but were natural and habitual traits of his
character. It mattered nothing to him whether the persons who solicited
his services belonged to his own congregation or not. He was incapable
of refusing to do a kindly office, and he never dreamt of sparing
himself trouble, He never acted as if conferring a favour: There was no
formality in his nature. He chatted away with a frankness and simplicity
that won universal confidence, and by their transparency kept guile at a
distance.
Mr Macgregor, though one of the most eloquent and
best Gaelic speakers of his time, curiously enough, did not, for many
years, preach in his native language; but though he did not use it in
the pulpit, he did so constantly in his ceaseless visitations of the
Gaelic portion of his own flock and the general body of the Gaelic
population of the town and district, and found it a sure and ready means
to reach and touch their warm Highland hearts.
Though he will be sorely missed in the Highland
Capital as a man, a minister, and as a Christian of wide catholic
sympathies and true charity, throughout the Highlands and the country
generally, he will be specially missed as a genuine type of the fine old
Highlander, as our best Gaelic scholar, and the first authority upon all
questions connected with the history, antiquities, traditions, language,
and literature of his countrymen; and he was ever ready to give the
benefit of his extensive knowledge to others. He has written what would
form several volumes since he first commenced, in the parish of Kilmuir,
to issue among his neighbours, his manuscript magazine, the "Kilmuir
Conservative Gazette," written entirely in his own beautiful hand. He
afterwards contributed to almost every periodical or newspaper that
interested itself in any phase of Highland life and though:. lie
coiiributed largly to "Cuairtear nan Gicanu," edited by Old Norman
Macleod. Most of his contributions are signed "Sgiathanaci," or
"Alasdair Ruadh," but many are only signed "S.," and, in several cases,
not at all. On one occasion, during the absence of the editor, he wrote
the whole number, and, he repeatedly wrote the greater portion of the
monthly issue. He was afterwards a regular contributor to "Fear Tathaich
nam Beann," conducted by the Rev. Dr Clerk, of Kilmallie. In his latter
years he contributed largely to the Gael, published by Angus Nicholson,
first in Glasgow and latterly in Edinburgh. To this periodical he
contributed in all not less than some 270 closely printed pages of the
purest, idiomatic Gaelic, between 1372 and 1877, while during the same
period he wrote extensively for the Highlander and the Celtic Magazine.
It will be remembered that his name appeared on the
title- page of our first volume as joint Editor, a fact which, no doubt,
greatly helped to secure for the magazine its early popularity among
educated Highlanders. His contributions are still fresh in the memory of
the reader, but we may recal a few of the most important, such as
"Destitution in the Highlands;" "Highland Superstition," afterwards
considerably extended, and published as an Appendix of 64 pages to the
Second Edition of "The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer;" and the "Life and
Adventures of Flora Macdonald," now passing through the press in volume
form. In addition to these he wrote over twenty articles on other
subjects connected with the Highlands, making altogether more than 230
closely printed pages of this magazine.
His "Parish of Kilinuir," Published in the "New
Statistical Account" in 1842, extends to 50 pages, and is one of the
most valuable contributions to that work. What he had written for that
publication would have made about 20 pages additional, but the Editor
found it necessary to limit the various writers to a much smaller space
than Mr Macgregor was actually allowed. We have perused the original
MS., and can safely assert that some of the most interesting portions to
Highlanders are left out. These have, however, found their way into
print in our own pages and elsewhere in connection with other subjects.
He translated the Apocrypha into Gaelic several years ago, at the
request of Prince Lucien Bonaparte, who paid him a visit in Inverness,
and afterwards published Mr Macgregor's beautiful translation in a
handsome volume. The MS., apart from its high literary merit, was itself
a work of art. Several of his most valuable contributions to Gaelic
Literature were delivered at meetings of the Gaelic Society of
Inverness, all of which are preserved in their Annual Volume of
Transactions. Among these will be found a Gaelic Lecture of great value,
delivered on the 24th of October 1873, on the Highlanders, their
Language, Poetry, Music, Dress, and Arms. His knowledge of Highland
music was equal to his other Celtic acquirements. He was an excellent
performer on the great Highland bagpipes and on the violin, and he was
almost invariably, for many years, one of the judges of Highland music
at the Northern Meeting. He was a popular lecturer, and delivered
several in Inverness, always to large and appreciative audiences, on
Highland subjects.
He was scarcely ever in bed after five o'clock in the
morning, which accounts for the great amount of work he was able to
perform in addition to his ministerial and parochial duties. Before
breakfast he had already done a fair day's work with his pen, and,
unlike most ministers, he prepared and wrote his sermons on the Mondays
and Tuesdays. He had thus the rest of the week at his disposal for his
other duties. He was Honorary Chieftain and Life Member of the Gaelic
Society of Inverness, and on one occasion presided at one of its Annual
Assemblies It was probably very much owing to his great modesty and
retiring disposition, and perhaps in consequence of the neglect of his
friends that his Alma Mater did not confer upon him some Degree of
recognition in his latter days, a fact often referred to with regret in
literary circles for the last few years.
About six weeks before his death he paid a visit to
his son Duncan, a Medical Doctor in Yorkshire, who took advantage of his
father's visit to take him to London, where he greatly enjoyed the
wonders of the Metropolis. His experiences there, and the impressions
made upon him, he humorously described in a Gaelic letter to the writer,
which appeared in our October number.
No one was ever more universally and sincerely
mourned, not only in Inverness but throughout the Highlands, and even
among his countrymen abroad, as we have a good opportunity of knowing.
Scarcely a letter reaches us but contains warm expressions of regret for
his loss.
The Rev. P. Hately Waddell, LL.D., who enjoyed an evening
with him here a few years ago, writes, among hundreds of others :-
It
gave me great grief to see that you lost so dear a friend and so
valuable a contributor. The announcement of his death in the papers was
a sad surprise to myself, for I was not aware that he was complaining,
and it was by your own reference to them in the magazine that I
understood at all about the circumstances attending it. The slight
opportunity I had of his personal acquaintance at Inverness was enough
to satisfy me that he was a most estimable man, and I am quite sure that
his loss will be very deeply felt by the whole community.
The Secretary of the Gaelic Society received the
following letters, among several others, expressing regret.
Sir Kenneth Mackenzie of Gairloch wrote—
I am glad the Gaelic Society is to attend the funeral
of our friend Mr Macgregor. I certainly should have joined in the
tribute of respect that will be paid to his remains had I been able to
do so. Indeed, for him it will, I think, be something more than a
tribute of respect; it will be one of affection. Others will succeed
him, but no one will ever replace him, and I can hardly explain to
myself how much I feel the loss of one who was to me a kindly, pleasant
acquaintance.
The Rev. Mr Bisset, R.C., Stratherrick, wrote—
For Mr Macgregor I have always entertained, since
first I knew him, feelings of the deepest respect. As an unworthy member
of the Gaelic Society, I would have considered it a melancholy duty to
attend the funeral of this most worthy man—a father and pillar of the
Society, and a most genuine Celt.
Colonel Cluny Macpherson of Cluny, C.B., wrote—
I was very sorry to hear of the death of the Rev.
Alex. Macgregor, for whom I have had a very great regard, and I regret
extremely being unable to be present at his funeral, and to pay the last
mark of respect to the memory of one so much beloved.
The funeral, which was a public one, was one of the
largest ever seen in Inverness. The people began to gather at 4 Victoria
Terrace, the residence of the deceased, at noon, though the cortege was
timed to start at i P.M. The Chronicle, for which Mr Macgregor also
wrote several Gaelic contributions, accurately describes the scene:—
Among the first to arrive were the members of the
Presbytery of Inverness. Religious services were conducted in the house
by the venerable Dr Macdonald. Meanwhile the muster outside grew larger
and larger. All classes were represented. Landowners, magistrates,
clergymen of all denominations, merchants, farmers, and humble workmen
assembled with the one desire to pay a last tribute to a man who had so
well represented broad charity and universal brotherhood. Dr Mackay aud
the Primus, as well as Dr Macdonald, were there with their weight of
years. The Rev. Mr Dawson, the Catholic priest, was there also, and so
were Free and Established Church ministers from a distance. The Masons
of St Mary's Lodge, of which the deceased was chaplain, turned out to
the number of 120; and so, to the number of zoo, did the Gaelic Society,
headed by Mr Fraser-Mackintosh, M.P., one of their honorary chieftains.
Mr Mackintosh of Raigmore was also present.
Shortly after one o'clock the procession started in
the following order The Town Officers.
The Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council.
The
Lodge of St Mary's Freemasons.
The Lodge of St John's Freemasons (No.
6 of Scotland).
The hearse.
The chief mourners and immediate
friends.
The Presbytery of Inverness.
The Kirk-Session of the West
Church.
The Members of the Gaelic Society.
The public.
In this order the long procession moved slowly by
Millburn Road, Petty Street, High Street, and Church Street to
Chapel-yard, where the interment took place in the presence of
thousands. The pall-bearers were:
Mr Robert Macgregor, Edinburgh, and Dr D. A.
Macgregor, Clayton West, Huddersfield—sons.
Mr James Menzies,
Melrose, and Mr Duncan Macgregor, Inverness—cousins.
The Rev. Dr
Macdonald, High Church, Inverness.
The Rev. J. Macnaughton, Dores.
Colonel J. P. Stuart, Inverness.
Mr A. A. Gregory, Inverness.
Along the route spectators lined the sides of the
streets. The town bells and those of the High and West Churches were
tolled. Shops, banks, and places of business were closed. In short,
business was universally suspended, and it might be said that almost all
the population was in the streets. Nothing could be simpler and nothing
more impressive than the manner in which Inverness paid its last tribute
to the man who had so long gone in and out among its people,
unostentatiously doing good, and making friends of all and enemies of
none.
Inverness shall certainly never see his like again,
and for ourselves, we can only repeat what we said in our last issue:—In
him the Celtic Magazine has lost its first and best friend; while the
Editor personally has lost the society of one whose most intimate and
personal friendship he valued above all others, and whose life and walk
he admired as the most complete model of true Christian charity and
gentleness it has ever been his lot to know.
His loss to his own family and more immediate friends
is not for us to measure; but their cloud of sorrow has a silver lining,
which ought to qualify their bereavement, in the universal regret and
sympathy of a whole people. A. M.
THE CELTIC MAGAZINE
November 1879 THE AGED PIPER AND HIS BAGPIPE
There are many incidents of deep interest connected with the attempt to
reinstate the Stuarts on the British throne. Since the period of the
Rebellion, many things have occurred, and not a few changes have happily
tended to strengthen the reigning dynasty, and to extinguish the
Stuarts' last ray of hope. The Stuart family, as is well known, had many
friendly and faithful adherents in the Highlands of Scotland, by whom
every attempt was made at the time to obtain the services and to secure
the allegiance of the powerful and brave. The subject of this brief
notice was a man far-famed in his day, for his proficiency in the
martial music of the Highlands, and not less so for his personal agility
and warlike spirit John Macgregor, one of the celebrated “Clann
Sgdulaich,” a native of Fortingall, a parish in the Highlands of
Perthshire, was, like too many of his countrymen, warmly attached to the
Prince’s cause. He embraced, in consequence, the earliest opportunity of
joining his standard. Soon after Charles had set his foot on the soil of
Scotland, Macgregor resorted without delay to the general rendezvous of
the clans at Glenfinnan, and shortly became a great favourite with the
Prince. Macgregor was a powerful man, handsome, active, well-built, and
about six feet in height. Ho was a close attendant upon his Royal
Highness—accompanied him in all his movements, and was ever ready and
willing to serve him in every emergency. Charles placed great confidence
in his valiant piper, and was in the habit of ad dressing him in kind
and familiar terms. Unfortunately, however, the gallant piper bad but a
very scanty knowledge of the English language, and could not communicate
to his Royal Highness various tidings that might be of service to be
known. The Prince, however, acquired as much of the Celtic tongue, in a
comparatively short time, as enabled him to say, "Seid suaa do phiob,
Iain” (Blow up your pipe, John). This was a frequent and favourite
command of the Prince. When he entered into the city of Edinburgh, and
likewise after the luckless Cope and his dragoons took flight at
Prestonpans, the Prince loudly called, “Seid soas do phiob, Iain.” John
could well do so, and the shrill notes of his powerful instrument were
hoard from afar. He stood by the Prince in all his movements, and went
wherever he went. He joined in the march to Derby; was present at the
battle of Falkirk; played at the siege of Stirling Castle; and appeared
with sword and pipe at the irretrievable defeat at Culloden, where,
alas! on the evening of the fatal day, he beheld tho last sight of his
beloved Prince.
Poor John received rather a severe wound by a ball in the left thigh,
causing a considerable loss of blood, and consequent weakness. By the
aid of a surgeon which ho fortunately met with, the wound was dressed,
and he made the best of his way, after many hair breadth escapes and
distressing deprivations, to his native glen, where he resided to the
day of his death. He had numerous descendants—four sons and eight
grandsons —and all of them pipers. Of these, the last alive, but now
dead, was a grandson, the aged piper referred to at the head of this
article, who was also a John Macgregor.
The identical bagpipe with which Macgregor cheered the spirits of his
Jacobite countrymen in their battles and skirmishes was still in the
possession of this grandson, the John Macgregor already alluded to, who
departed this life only a few years ago, at a very advanced age, at
Druimcharry, in the parish of FortingalL The instrument was in excellent
preservation, and was undoubtedly worthy of a place in some museum. It
had but two drones, the third in such instruments being but a modem
appendage Its chanter was covered with silver plates, bearing
inscriptions in English and Gaelic. The late Sir John Athole Macgregor,
Bart,, added one plate to it, on which are inscribed the following words
in both languages:—“These pipes, belonging to John Macgregor, piper to
his Grace the Duke of Athole, were played by his grandfather, John
Macgregor, in the battles of Prince Charles Stuart’s army in 1745-6, and
this inscription was placed on them by his Chief, Sir John Athole
Macgregor, Bart, of Macgregor, in 1846, to commemorate their honourable
services.”
The late owner, John Macgregor, was also a celebrated piper in his day,
and was able to play the old pipe with wonderful efficiency, until he
parted with it, as described below. Ho gained the prize pipe at the
Edinburgh competition for Piobaireachd in July 1811. Ho was for several
years in his youth piper to his Grace the Duke of Athole, and
subsequently to Mr Farquhanson of Monaltrie, and Mr Farquhareon of
Finzean, In 1813 ho played at the assembling of the Isle of Man
proprietors at Tynwald HilL He performed at tho head of his clan in
Edinburgh during tho Royal visit in 1822. He played the Piobairoachd,
“ThMn* na Griogairich, Thin* na Griogairich, tb&inig, thkinig, thMn’ na
Griogairich,” in the great procession, when his Chief, Sir Evan
Macgregor, Bart, of Macgregor, was conveying the Regalia of Scotland
from the Castlo to the Palace of HolyroocL He was piper to the Athole
Highlanders at the Eglington Tournament in 1839, and bad the honour of
performing before Her Majesty the Quoon at Taymouth Castle. But John
became latterly frail and aged, and was unfortunately in rather
straitened circumstances. Ho was modest and unassuming, and would rather
endure privations than let his wants be made known to others.
Worthy old John about sixteen years ago communicated by letter with his
namesake, the writer, and gave in detail the above particulars relative
to his grandfather and his ancient bagpipe. It was recommended to John,
for his own benefit, as well as for the preservation of the interesting
relic of the olden times in his possession, to give his consent to a
notice being inserted in the public prints, that he was willing to part
with it to some benovolent antiquary. The consent was given and the
notice duly made public. In a very short space of time John received
letters from several parties of distinction, among whom was Mr Mackenzie
of Seaforth, and other Highland proprietors, offering handsome sums for
the valuable relic. At length tho advertisement was observed by his
Grace the Duke of Athole, who lost no time in acquainting the aged
Macgregor that ho had every desire to become the owner of the
interesting instrument, and that ho behoved to have it, as John was
willing to part with it His Grace at the same time intimated to the old
man that ho would allow him not' only a sum equal to the highest offered
to him by any other, but would in addition settle upon him a comfortable
half-yearly pension as long as he lived. It is needless to say that the
Culloden bagpipe became at once the property of his Grace, and that, no
doubt, it now lies in silence in the ducal repositories of Athole, while
old John Macgregor has been for some years in the silence of the grave.
ALEX. MACGREGOR.
The Life of Flora MacDonald
Genealogy
