James Gregory (1753-1821)

James Gregory was born in Aberdeen in January 1753. He was the son of John Gregory (1724-1773), Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh University, who was at that time practising medicine in Aberdeen. James Gregory was educated at Aberdeen and Edinburgh, and also at Christ Church, Oxford. On the death of his father in 1773, Gregory took over his father's lectures at Edinburgh University with some success, and took his own M.D. in 1774. After spending a couple of years studying medicine in continental Europe, Gregory was appointed Professor of the Institutes of Medicine in 1776 and the following year he began giving clinical lectures at the Royal Infirmary. His two volume Conspectus medicinae theoreticae: ad usum academicum (1782) established his position in medicine and in 1790 he became Professor of the Practice of Medicine at Edinburgh University, succeeding William Cullen (1710-1790) who had held the Chair since the death of Gregory's father. Professor James Gregory died on 2 April 1821.