Peter MACGREGOR, 1892 - 1918
Peter Macgregor was born on 17th January 1892 at 4 Warman Terrace, Worthing in Sussex. His father was Peter Macgregor and his mother was Christiania Jennings (nee Hubbard).
By the age of 8½ he was an orphan, as first his mother and then
his father died. He and his younger brothers Ivor and Claude fell
under the wardship of William
York Macgregor, their uncle. They moved from Hove, first to be placed under
the care of Mrs Lermanshand at Herne
Bay for three months at a board of £30 for the period, preparatory to being
sent to Dollar, which is near Bridge of Allen.
Here a home had been secured for them at a board of £150 per
annum, with Miss Marshall, of Islay Cottage Dollar.
There they received tuition at home and in a preparatory school until they were
sufficiently advanced to be admitted into the Dollar Academy.
Peter became a Bank Accountant. In 1911 he was to be found at the house of Mary Galloway, a 71 year old teacher at a private school. The address was 186 Forrest Avenue. Peter was described as a “Bank Clerk”.
Peter qualified as a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. He became an Associate of the Institute in March 1912 and a Member in March 1914. He worked for the Union Bank of Scotland in Aberdeen. This bank amalgamated with the Bank of Scotland in the mid 1950s.
He joined the Officer Training Corps as a Cadet at the Inns of Court OTC on the 3rd January 1916, remaining until 8th March.
On the 24th July 1916 he was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant
in the territorial force. He served in the 8th (the Argyllshire) Battalion
Princess Louise’s (Argyle and Southerland Highlanders) from then to 21st
March 1917 when he resigned his commission.
Little is known about what happened after this until his death notice
appears in the Glasgow Herald of 27th November 1918. It reads as follows; “At
Central School Military Hospital Aberdeen on 25th November 1918 (of pneumonia)
whilst on leave from France 227849 Gunner Peter Macgregor RFA aged 26 years,
son of late Peter Macgregor barrister and grandson of the late John Macgregor
shipbuilder Glasgow”
It is probable that he died of the "Spanish Flu" which was raging across the world at that time. His death certificate records him as dying at 156 Forest Avenue. This is only a few doors from Mrs Galloway’s house, where he was found in 1911. The photograph below shows the building as it is now:
