For some years he continued to levy blackmail from those whose cattle and estates he protected, and although an English garrison was stationed at Inversnaid, near Aberfoyle, his activity, address, and courage continually saved him from falling into their hands. The year of his death is uncertain, but it is supposed to have been after 1738. He died at an advanced age in his bed, in his own house at Balquhidder. When he found death approaching, “he expressed,” says Sir Walter Scott, “some contrition for particular parts of his life. His wife laughed at these scruples of conscience, and exhorted him to die like a man, as he had lived. In reply, he rebuked her for her violent passions, and the counsels she had given him. ‘You have put strife,’ he said, ‘between me and the best men of the country, and now you would place enmity between me and my God.’ There is a tradition noway inconsistent with the former, if the character of Rob Roy be justly considered, that, while on his deathbed, he learned that a person with whom he was at enmity, proposed to visit him. ‘Raise me from my bed,’ said the invalid, ‘throw my plaid around me, and bring me my claymore, dirk, and pistols; it shall never be said that a foeman saw Rob Roy Macgregor defenceless and unarmed.’ His foeman, conjectured to be one of the Maclarens, entered and paid his compliments, inquiring after the health of his formidable neighbour. Rob Roy maintained a cold haughty civility during their short conference, and as soon as he had left the house, ‘Now,’ he said, ‘all is over; let the piper play Ha til mi tulidh’ (we return no more), and he is said to have expired before the dirge was finished.” The grave of Macgregor, in the churchyard of Balquhidder, is distinguished by a rude tombstone, over which a sword is carved.
Rob Roy had five sons—Coll, Ranald, James (called James Roy, after his father, and James Mohr, or big James, from his height), Duncan, and Robert, called Robin Oig, or Young Robin.
On the breaking out of the rebellion of 1745, the clan Gregor adhered to the cause of the Pretender. A Macgregor regiment, 300 strong, was raised by Robert Macgregor of Glencairnock, who was generally considered chief of the clan, which joined the prince’s army. The branch of Ciar Mohr, however, regarded William Macgregor Drummond of Bohaldie, then in France, as their head, and a separate corps formed by them, commanded by Glengyle, and James Roy Macgregor, united themselves to the levies of the titular Duke of Perth, James assuming the name of Drummond, the duke’s family name, instead of that of Campbell. This corps was the relics of Rob Roy’s band, and with only twelve men of it, James Roy, who seems to have held the rank of captain or major, succeeded in surprising and burning, for the second time, the fort at Inversnaid, constructed for the express purpose of keeping the country of the Macgregors in order.
At the battle of Prestonpans, the Duke of Perth’s men and the Macgregors composed the centre. Armed only with scythes, this party cut off the legs of the horses, and severed, it is said, the bodies of their riders in twain. Captain James Roy, at the commencement of the battle, received five wounds, but recovered from them, and rejoined the prince’s army with six companies. He was present at the battle of Culloden, and after that defeat the clan Gregor returned in a body to their own country, when they dispersed. James Roy was attainted for high treason, but from some letters of his, published in Blackwood’s Magazine for December 1817, it appears that he had entered into some communication with the government, as he mentions having obtained a pass from the Lord Justice-clerk in 1747, which was a sufficient protection to him from the military.
On James Roy’s arrival in France, he seems to have been in very poor circumstances, as he addressed a letter to Mr Edgar, secretary to the Chevalier de St George, dated Boulogne-sur-Mer, May 22, 1753, craving assistance “for the support of a man who has always shown the strongest attachment to his majesty’s person and cause.” To relieve his necessities, James ordered his banker at Paris to pay Macgregor 300 livres. James Roy, availing himself of a permission he had received to return to Britain, made a journey to London, and had an interview, according to his own statement, with Lord Holderness, secretary of state. The latter and the under secretary offered him, he says, a situation in the government service, which he rejected, as he avers his acceptance of it would have been a disgrace to his birth, and would have rendered him a scourge to his country. On this he was ordered instantly to quit England. On his return to France, an information was lodged against him by Macdonnell of Lochgarry, before the high bailie of Dunkirk, accusing him of being a spy. In consequence, he was obliged to quit that town and proceed to Paris, with only thirteen livres in his pocket. In his last letter to his acknowledged chief, Macgregor of Bobaldie, dated Paris, 25th September 1754, he describes himself as being in a state of extreme destitution, and expresses his anxiety to obtain some employment as a breaker and breeder of horses, or as a hunter or fowler, “till better cast up.” In a postscript he asks his chief to lend him his bagpipes, “to play some melancholy tunes.” He died about a week after writing this letter, it is supposed of absolute starvation.
It was not till 1784 that the oppressive acts against the Macgregors, which, however, for several years had fallen into desuetude, were rescinded by the British parliament, when they were allowed to resume their own name, and were restored to all the rights and privileges of British citizens. A deed was immediately entered into, subscribed by 826 persons of the name of Macgregor, recognising John Murray of Lanrick, representative of the family of Glencarnock, as their chief, Murray being the name assumed, under the Proscriptive act, by John Macgregor, who was chief in 1715. Although he secretly favoured the rebellion of that year, the latter took no active part in it; but Robert, the next chief, mortgaged his estate, to support the cause of the Stuarts, and he commanded that portion of the clan who acknowledged him as their head in the rebellion of 1745. Altogether, with the Ciar Mohr branch, the Macgregors could then muster 700 fighting men. To induce Glencarnock’s followers to lay down their arms, the Duke of Cumberland authorised Mr Gordon, at that time minister of Alva, in Strathspey, to treat with them, offering them the restoration of their name, and other favours, but the chief replied that they could not desert the cause. They chose rather to risk all, and die with the characters of honest men, than live in infamy, and disgrace their posterity.
After the battle of Culloden, the chief was long confined in Edinburgh castle, and on his death in 1758, he was succeeded by his brother Evan, who held a commission in the 41st regiment, and served with distinction in Germany. His son, John Murray of Lanrick, was the chief acknowledged by the clan, on the restoration of their rights in 1784. He was a general in the East India Company’s service, and auditor-general in Bengal. Created a baronet of Great Britain 23d July 1795, he resumed in 1822 the original surname of the family, Macgregor, by royal license. He died the same year. The chiefship, however, was disputed by the Glengyle family, to which Rob Roy belonged.
Sir John Murray Macgregor’s only son, Sir Evan John Macgregor, second baronet, was born in January 1785. He was a major-general in the army, K.C.B., and G.C.H., and governor-general of the Windward Isles. He died at his seat of government, 14th June 1841. By his wife, Lady Elizabeth Murray, daughter of John, fourth Duke of Athole, he had five sons and four daughters.
His eldest son, Sir John Athole Bannatyne Macgregor, third baronet, born 20th January 1810, was lieutenant-governor of the Virgin Islands, and died at Tortola, his seat of government, 11th May 1851. He had four sons and two daughters. The eldest son, Sir Malcolm Murray Macgregor, fourth baronet, was born 29th August 1834, and styled of Macgregor, county Perth.