Rob Roy (Gaelic, "Red Robert"), the Scotch Robin Hood; born in 1671; second son of Lieut.-Col. Donald Macgregor of Glengyle. In consequence of losses incurred about 1712 in unsuccessful speculations in cattle, for which he had borrowed money from the Duke of Montrose, his lands were seized, his houses plundered, and his wife shamefully used, turned adrift with his children in midwinter. Madden]ed by these misfortunes, Rob Roy gathered his clansmen and made open war on the duke, sweeping away the whole cattle of a district, and kidnapping his factor with rents to the value of more than $15,000. Marvellous stories are current round Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond (where a cave near Inversnaid still bears his name) of his hairbreadth escapes from capture, of his evasions when captured, and of his generosity to the poor, whose wants he supplied at the expense of the rich. They in turn gave him timely warning of the designs of his two arch-foes, the Dukes of Montrose and Athole, and of the red-coats they called to their aid from Dumbarton and Stirling; besides, Rob Roy enjoyed the protection of the Duke of Argyll, having assumed the name Campbell, his mother's. Late in life he is said to have turned Catholic, but in the list of subscribers to the Episcopalian Church history of Bishop Keith occurs the name "Robert Macgregor alias Rob Roy." The history came out in 1734, and on Dec. 28 of that year Rob Roy died in his own house at Balquhidder. He left five sons, two of whom died in 1734 -- James, an outlaw, in Paris; and Robin, the youngest, on the gallows at Edinburgh for abduction.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia,
1912.