Gregor MacGregor (31 August 1869 – 20 August 1919) was a Scottish
cricketer
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
and
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
player. He played rugby for
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
and cricket for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
[Bath, Richard, ed. (2007) ''The Scotland Rugby Miscellany''. Vision Sports Publishing Ltd. p. 104 )]
Personal history
MacGregor was born in 1869 to Donald MacGregor J.P. of Argyll in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was schooled at
Uppingham
Uppingham is a market town in Rutland, England, off the A47 between Leicester and Peterborough, south of the county town, Oakham. It had a population of 4,745 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 4,853 in 2019. It is known for its ep ...
before matriculating to
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...
in October 1887.
On leaving university he found work on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
.
Cricket career
In cricket he played 265
first-class matches between 1888 and 1907. He made his first-class debut for
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
against C.I. Thornton's XI at
Fenner's
Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground.
History
Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchard ...
in 1888 and won
Blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
in all four years at Cambridge. He made first-class appearances for a number of teams, including
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
as a
wicket keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. T ...
and captained the county club between 1898 and 1907. He later served as the treasurer, before his death in 1919, aged 49. He played in eight
Tests
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
for England.
He is commemorated at Cambridge, as the first Scottish cricket Blue to play international cricket, in the Hone-MacGregor Trophy: a triangular tournament between Cambridge University, Irish Universities and Scottish Universities.
Rugby career
![Jesus College rugby XV 1889](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Jesus_College_rugby_XV_1889.jpeg)
Gregor MacGregor was also notable as a rugby union footballer. Within rugby, MacGregor played club rugby for
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
and international rugby for
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
between 1890 and 1896.
[
In 1889 and 1890 he appeared as full back for ]Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
against Oxford, showing himself a fine tackler and very accurate kick. In the same season that he first appeared for Cambridge, he was also awarded his first international cap. MacGregor was selected by the Scottish Rugby Union
The Scottish Rugby Union (SRU; gd, Aonadh Rugbaidh na h-Alba) is the governing body of rugby union in Scotland. Styled as Scottish Rugby, it is the second oldest Rugby Union, having been founded in 1873. The SRU oversees the national league s ...
to appear for Scotland in all three international matches of the 1890 Home Nations Championship.
In 1890, MacGregor was invited to join William Percy Carpmael
William Percy Carpmael (20 May 1864 – 27 December 1936) was the founder and first president of the rugby union Barbarian Football Club. Carpmael was born the eldest of eight in Briscobel, Streatham in England.Starmer-Smith (1977), pg 13 ...
's newly formed touring team, the Barbarians
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less c ...
. He accepted and became an original member of the team.
MacGregor also played in the Home Nations Championship in 1891 and 1893, missing the 1892 tournament as he was out in Australia with Lord Sheffield's cricket team in 1892, and in 1894 he played against England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. His final appearance in an international game being between Scotland and England, decided at Hampden Park
Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...
, Glasgow, in 1896. Although he began and finished his career in matches as a full back, MacGregor played mostly in those games as a centre three-quarter—those when the three three-quarter system was preferred. In the course of his career he appeared on several occasions for Middlesex. On one of these, when the four three-quarter system had come into vogue, he had for his colleagues Andrew Stoddart
Andrew Ernest Stoddart (11 March 1863 – 4 April 1915) was an English sportsman who played international cricket for England, and rugby union for England and the British Isles. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1893.
He has the unique ...
, Arthur Gould, and G. T. Campbell, all internationals. Despite such talented players all appearing in the same team, Yorkshire proved victorious.
MacGregor also wrote about rugby. For example, he contributed a chapter titled "Full Back Play" to a book by Bertram Fletcher Robinson
Bertram Fletcher Robinson (22 August 1870 – 21 January 1907) was an English sportsman, journalist, author and Liberal Unionist Party campaigner. Between 1893 and 1907, he wrote nearly three hundred items, including a series of short stories th ...
, ''Rugby Football'' (London: The Isthmian Library, 1896). This book was recently republished in facsimile form.
/ref>
Legacy
A portrait painted by Henry Weigall Jr, of Andrew Stoddart
Andrew Ernest Stoddart (11 March 1863 – 4 April 1915) was an English sportsman who played international cricket for England, and rugby union for England and the British Isles. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1893.
He has the unique ...
batting and MacGregor Wicket-keeper, keeping wicket, was given to the MCC in 1927 by W.H. Patterson, a MCC committee member. The identity of the artist of the oil painting was only reaffirmed in 2018. The picture regularly hangs in the Pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...
.
See also
* List of Scottish cricket and rugby union players
*List of Test cricketers born in non-Test playing nations
This is a list of Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two pe ...
References
External links
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' obituary
*
*Godwin, Terry ''Complete Who's Who of International Rugby'' (Cassell, 1987, )
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macgregor, Gregor
1869 births
1919 deaths
19th-century British businesspeople
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
Barbarian F.C. players
C. I. Thornton's XI cricketers
Cambridge University cricketers
Cambridge University R.U.F.C. players
Cricketers from Edinburgh
England cricket team selectors
England Test cricketers
Gentlemen cricketers
Gentlemen of England cricketers
Lord Londesborough's XI cricketers
Lyric Club cricketers
Married v Single cricketers
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Middlesex cricket captains
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North v South cricketers
Oxford and Cambridge Universities Past and Present cricketers
People educated at Uppingham School
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Scotland international rugby union players
Scottish cricketers
Scottish rugby union players
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wicket-keepers