Alasdair Alpin MacGregor (March 20, 1899 – April 15, 1970) was a Scottish writer, animal welfare campaigner and photographer, known for a large number of travel books. He wrote also on Scottish folklore, and was a published poet.
Biography
MacGregor was born at Applecross, Ross and Cromarty, on 20 March 1899, the son of Colonel John MacGregor M.D. of the Indian Medical Service. He was educated at Tain Academy in Inverness, George Watson's College and Edinburgh University. During World War I he served with the 15th Scottish Division in the trenches in France.
He lived in London for most of his adult life in Swan Court and Upper Cheyne Row, Chelsea. Along with T. Ratcliffe Barnett, an Edinburgh minister and author, MacGregor reflects a transitional period during the first half of the 20th century when the north of Scotland was still rural and mostly unaffected by modern society.
In the years before his death in 1970, he visited the United States often and was a mentor to a young Marion Barry, who later became mayor of Washington, D.C.
His book about his childhood, The Goat Wife, tells the evocative story of his hard working and resourceful Aunt Dorothy, who left a comfortable existence in Edinburgh's Ann Street - reputed to be the most haunted street in Edinburgh - to begin life as a solo crofter in the Easter Ross village of Ardgay (then known locally as "High Wind"). Spanning the period before the First World War until the end of the Second, it captures the last remnants of the simplicity, privations and charm of Scottish rural community life. The "Victor" in the book is the poet Frederick Victor Branford.
MacGregor was described as a "vegetarian, teetotaller, and uncompromising and active anti-vivisectionist". In November, 1949 complaints were sent to the publisher requesting for the book to be withdrawn. James S. Grant editor of the Stornoway Gazette denounced the statements in the book as "vile and false". In 1929, MacGregor returned his graduation diplomas to Edinburgh University and requested for his name to be erased from the alumni register in protest of the University's vivisection activities. In 1930, MacGregor challenged Edward Albert Sharpey-Schafer to a public debate on the ethics of vivisection.
MacGregor was president of the League for the Prohibition of Cruel Sports. He resigned in 1934. He was a vegetarian who argued that animal-lovers should not eat meat. MacGregor attended meetings of the National Equine Defence League.
Dispute with the RSPCA
MacGregor criticized the RSPCA for its non-opposition to blood sports such as fox-hunting. The RSPCA had refused to oppose hunting out of risk of losing its wealthiest supporters. Macgregor alleged that the governing body of the RSPCA had introduced a secret expulsion from their society where "undesirable" members could be expelled. MacGregor filed a charge of assault against Gower.
Death
MacGregor died on April 15, 1970 in London. Following his wishes, his photographic collection and published works were donated to the National Museums by his widow in 1970. His personal papers are stored by the National Library of Scotland.
- Phantom Footsteps: A Second Ghost Book (1959)
- Percyval Tudor-Hart: Portrait of an Artist (1961)
- The Golden Lamp: Portrait of a Landlady (1964)
- Land of the Mountain and the Flood (1965)
- The Enchanted Isles (1967)
- The Farthest Hebrides (1969)
- Islands by the Score (1971)