James Gregory

James Gregory (January 17532 April 1821) was a Scottish medical doctor and classicist.

Early life and education The eldest son of John Gregory (1724–1773) and Elizabeth Forbes (died 1761), he was born in Aberdeen. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, King's College, University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh (MD 1774), the University of Oxford, and Leyden University.

He accompanied his family moving to Edinburgh in 1764, and after going through the usual course of literary studies at that university, he was for a short time a student at Christ Church, Oxford. It was there probably that he acquired that taste for classical learning which afterwards distinguished him. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and, after graduating doctor of medicine in 1774, spent the greater part of the next two years in Leiden, Paris, and in Italy.

Medicine in Edinburgh

Shortly after his return to Scotland, he was appointed in 1776 to the chair his father had formerly held, and in the following year he also entered on the duties of teacher of clinical medicine in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. James had bought the property as a brand new house shortly before his death.

His second wife's sister, Mary Macleod, was married to Sir George Mackenzie, 7th Baronet.

Death

Gregory died after being run over by a horse and carriage in St Andrew Square in Edinburgh on 2 April 1821 and was buried in Canongate Kirkyard on the Royal Mile. His wife and most of his children are buried with him. The grave lies in the extreme south-west corner, immediately to the right hand side of Adam Smith's grave.