William MacGregor

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An introduction to the history of William MacGregor.

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William MacGregor1848 - 1937Born on May 16, 1848 of a wealthy Scottishshipping family, William MacGregor. He waseducated at Rugby School and then went on toExeter College Oxford where he graduated asa B.A. in 1871 and an M.A. in 1874.

He was ordained as a deacon in 1872 and a Priest in1873 at Lichfield. He was curate of Hopwas from1872 -76.

In 1877 -78 he moved to St Matthias’, Liverpoolserving as vicar of that parish.

William MacGregor, a very godly man with immensefaith devoted his life to the people of Tamworth andspent the first 10 years of his ministry visiting thepoor and squalid homes where typhoid was oftenrampant. He campaigned tirelessly for every hometo have clean water and sanitation despite thestrong opposition from the town’s wealthyinhabitants.

He welcomed children and orphans from theTamworth Workhouse (later St. Editha’s Hospital)into his home to holiday. A lifelong bachelor, heloved children and encouraged them to save in aPenny Bank.

He brought in 2 curates to help him and personallyfinanced these.

In 1880 he founded the first hospital at his ownexpense and acted as honorary secretary for manyyears, his interest in the hospital never waned.

William MacGregor was Chairman of the TamworthHerald from 1906-28, he started a free library and acoffee house (for teetotallers) and established aworking men’s club as a place where a working mancould take his wife for a social evening.

BuildingsHe built two churches, at Glascote and Hopwasand had the bells of St. Editha’s re-cast. He alsooccasionally served as a magistrate.

On one occasion a young boy was brought beforehim for playing football in the road, the boy informedhim that there was no where else to play so WilliamMacGregor purchased a plot of land near the railwayarches – Bolehall Park (now known as MacGregorPark) which he gave to the young people of the town.

He started a Mothers’ Union and employed a homenurse to visit and help poor mothers with infants athome. He then started a girls’ club where they couldnot only learn needlework and religion but have aplace to read and chat.

The poor people of Tamworth appealed to WilliamMacGregor to help them start a Co-operativeSociety where they could purchase food cheaplyand share in the profits. In 1885 he sourced thepremises in Colehill and acted as guarantor. Thelocal shopkeepers were enraged and feared that thiscut-price Co-op would affect their livelihoods. Theywrote to the Bishop in anger, people stoppedattending church in protest and Mr MacGregor wassubjected to abuse. In 1887 this sad episode causedWilliam MacGregor to resign as vicar but he decidedthat he would continue spending the rest of his lifedoing good in his own way.

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He went on to found the St George’s Club andInstitute for young men. The club had rooms forclasses and even a fine baths. For a quarter of acentury the institute was used for the social, physicaland educational benefit of the town’s young people.

In later life he suffered a serious lung illness whichcaused him to convalesce abroad in Egypt. Here hebecame enchanted with the Land of the Pharaohsand began studying their art. He became an eminentEgyptologist and amassed the most valuable privatecollection which he housed in a special museumwhich he had specially built at Bolehall Manor. Atleast two of the mummies he brought back fromEgypt are buried in local soil as they had begun todeteriorate.

He was also a noted authority and publicist onGreek pottery which earned him the Fellowship ofthe Society of Antiquaries.

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‘In my public life, which has not been a short one,I have known no moment of supreme satisfactionthan when the auctioneers’ hammer fell on WhitTuesday night two years ago in the Town hall,Guy built for us, and the auctioneer announced thatthe ancient Castle of Tamworth, with its historydating from 775, had become the property of theMayor and Corporation of Tamworth in the nameof the people.

It will be to us a centre of light and life, a centre ofthe history of our town and England and we shallgather there in the course of time, collections,scientific and artistic, of interest to us.

I can only trust that as the young men and womenof Tamworth grow up here and see their Castlerising in the midst of them, their minds will becarried back to the story of England’s history, thatthey will feel that history is a real and living thing.The people of Tamworth are the trustees of theCastle for the people of England, and I hope Imay say for that wider Anglo-Saxon race whichlies beyond all the seas.

As MacGregor got older he endowed TamworthCastle with certain collections but decided to sell themajority of his collection privately. The MacGregorcollection was sold by Sotheby’s for huge amountsto galleries and museums all over the world. The salecatalogue describes him as ‘one of the mostimportant collectors of Egyptology’, the cataloguecan be viewed today at the British Museum.

Mr MacGregor had an abiding love of history and hisconcern for the proper maintenance of TamworthCastle was deep and practical.

In 1899 he addressed the 350 invited guests at anofficial luncheon to celebrate the acquisition of theTamworth Assembly rooms:

All information believed accurate at time of print, based on available research. No liability is accepted for errors.

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William MacGregor not only cared about thebuildings in Tamworth but the welfare of its people,particularly the young. He wanted them to have asense of pride and citizenship.

William MacGregor was 89 years old when hepassed away on 26 February, 1937 at his home,Bolehall Manor, a house he had built for himself onland bordering the River Anker. His civic life anddedicated service to the people of Tamworthspanned some 60 years, a man in advance of histime. Bolehall Boys School was renamed as WilliamMacGregor School in honour of the man who haddone so much for Bolehall and for Tamworth as awhole.