Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/MacGregor, James
MACGREGOR, JAMES (1832–1910), moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland, born at Brownhill, Scone, Perthshire, on 11 July 1832, was son of James MacGregor, farmer, by his wife Margaret MacDougall. After receiving elementary education at his parish school and at Perth academy, MacGregor studied for the ministry of the Church of Scotland at St. Andrews University, 1848-55. Licensed as a preacher by Perth presbytery on 18 May 1855, he was minister of the High Church, Paisley, from 8 Nov. following till May 1862, when he was appointed to the parish of Monimail, Fifeshire. Translated to Tron Church, Glasgow (10 March 1864), as colleague and successor to Dr. James Boyd, father of A. K. H. Boyd [q. v. Suppl. I], he won great popularity as preacher and pastor. After four years in Glasgow he succeeded Dr. Maxwell Nicholson on 9 Jan. 1868, in the Tron Church, Edinburgh. There he fully maintained his reputation for pulpit oratory. A well-organised parochial visitation committee, which he initiated, was at length amalgamated with the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor. On 30 Nov. 1873 MacGregor became first minister of St. Cuthbert's parish, Edinburgh, which has the largest of Scottish congregations. With various colleagues he completed there a distinguished record during the remaining thirty-seven years of his life. Mainly through his exertions the old parish church was superseded in 1894 by a new edifice, which, with its equipment, cost about 50,000l.
From 1885 MacGregor effectively defended on the platform the existing relations between church and state. As moderator of the general assembly in 1891, he guided the proceedings with notable success. 'I heard his closing address,' wrote A. K. H. Boyd, 'and all the old indescribable fire and charm were there. . . . MacGregor is a born orator. You have to listen with rapt attention to every word he says. He is equally great, too, as Guthrie was, in pulpit and on platform.' Although a staunch churchman he was considerate and tolerant when his cherished principles were not assailed, and was not without hope that divided presbyterians might ultimately recognise one inclusive Church of Scotland. MacGregor proved the most popular Scottish preacher of his day. In 1870 St. Andrews conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D. In 1877 he was elected chaplain to the Royal Scottish Academy and to the Midlothian volunteer artillery, earning in his latter capacity the long service medal. In 1886 he became chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria (who gave him frequent tokens of her esteem), and the appointment was renewed by Edward VII in 1901 and by George V in 1910. MacGregor was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Although apparently of fragile physique MacGregor travelled much. In 1861 he was in the countries adjoining the Levant. When the marquis of Lorne was governor-general of Canada, he accompanied him in 1881 into the north-west provinces witnessed the progress of the Canadian Pacific railway. One of the railway stations, named MacGregor in his honour, is now a flourishing township, with a church that contains his portrait and is appropriately named St. Cuthbert's. In 1889 he was one of the Scottish presbyterian representatives at the jubilee celebration of the Australian presbyterian church. He described some of his travels in the 'Scotsman,' but published nothing else. He died at his manse on 26 Nov. 1910, and was interred in the Grange cemetery, Edinburgh.
MacGregor married twice: (1) in 1864 Helen, daughter of David Robertson, publisher, Glasgow; she died in 1875 and her two children both died young; (2) in 1892 Helen Murray, who survived him.
About 1875 a portrait of MacGregor was painted by Otto Leyde, and in 1898 another by Sir George Reid, P.R.S.A., was presented to him by his congregation and friends. These are family possessions. A third, a study by John Bowie, A.R.S.A., for a group of 'Queen's Chaplains,' is in the session house of St. Cuthbert's parish church.
[Information from Mrs. MacGregor and Miss Story, Glasgow; Memoir of Principal Story, by his daughters; Dr. A. K. H. Boyd's Twenty-five Years of St. Andrews; Scotsman and Glasgow Herald, 26 Nov. 1910.]