Background
The son of James Gregor, a tenant farmer of Keith, Scotland, he was born 23 October 1825 at Fogieside.
The son of James Gregor, a tenant farmer of Keith, Scotland, he was born 23 October 1825 at Fogieside.
He completed his degree in divinity at the age of 32, a series of earlier appointments led to his placement in 1863 at the Parish of Pitsligo by Queen Victoria.
Gregor obtained an Master of Arts at King"s College, Aberdeen, then took the position of Master at Macduff Parish School in a small village at Moray Firth. He spoke French and Hebrew and gained an international reputation for his studies and discoveries. Gregor"s field collections and writing were often focused on archaeology and folklore, but his interest and publications extended to a broad range of subjects.
He died on 4 February 1897 at Bonnyrigg, two years after his retirement to that town.
An excerpt of the original obituary in the Journal of the Folklore Society was reprinted in their centennial review of his contribution,
To know this book is to recognise its value as a transcript of the superstitions and traditions of a district rich in remains of the past up to that time unrecorded. Frequent communications to the Folk-Lore Society and to the Societe des Traditions Populaires, of which he was also a member, attest his continued industry."—Anonymously
Folklore 8 (1897):188.
"His name appears on the first list of members of the Folk-Lore Society. And among the early publications of the Society were his Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland.
