Early Life
MacGregor was born in the family house of Glengyle in Stirlingshire, Scotland on Christmas Eve 1786. His parents were Daniel MacGregor, a sea captain with the East India Company, and Ann Austin, a doctor's daughter. Little is known of MacGregor's early life but apparently he had at least one sister.
In 1803, at the age of 16, he joined the British Army and served in an infantry regiment, the 57th Foot. By 1804 he had risen to the rank of lieutenant, an unusually rapid progression in the ranks. He married Maria Bowater, an admiral's daughter, in June 1805, and Maria MacGregor then set up house in London while MacGregor spent much of his time in Gibraltar, where the 57th Foot was in training.
Not until July 1809 was MacGregor's regiment sent to Portugal, as reinforcements for the Duke of Wellington's second peninsular campaign to drive the French out of Spain. Accounts of MacGregor's service in this campaign vary, but it is known that for a time he was seconded to the Portuguese army with the rank of major, and that he sold out of the British Army in May 1810, possibly because of disagreements with his superior officers. MacGregor and his wife then went to Edinburgh, where he assumed the title of "Colonel", but by 1811 they were in London and MacGregor was styling himself Sir Gregor MacGregor, while claiming falsely to have succeeded to the chieftainship of the clan MacGregor.
Read more about this topic: Gregor MacGregor
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