Agent for the Bank of England

[hzx043]

Alexander MacGregor was appointed as the Agent for the Bank of England in Manchester in August 1826. This branch of the Bank of England was the second to be established and it opened on 21st September 1826 at 35 King Street, Manchester.

At the time of his death on 6th December 1828, Alexander MacGregor was residing in a property in or near Manchester. Can anybody help me to find his address please?

[Woody]

Hi hzx043

I'm assuming you already have most of the ancestral details of this family and if so, you'll know they were mainly Everton-based. The following might prove helpful.

There are a couple of on-line 1925-1928 trades directories for Liverpool and Manchester at www.historicaldirectories.org. My own experience is that these very early directories focus largely on business addresses, but you might be lucky. I suggest you just use 'MacGregor' when you search each directory; anything more complex is likely to confound the search engine.

I have a MacGregor in my line and found the following DNA web-site which proved quite useful www.familytreedna.com/public/MacGregor. I checked it quickly today and your Alexander MacGregor's ancestry shows up there.

There's a MacGregor Street in Liverpool 5 named after your ancestor, and you'll find the information at www.liverpoolpictorial.co.uk/streetnames.htm

Woody

[hzx043]

Hi Woody,

Thanks for the info. The DNA family tree is my data.

I do have an issue with the McGregor Street data though!


“McGREGOR STREET 5
Alexander McGregor was a merchant who was subsequently manager of the Bank of England branch in Manchester. He owned a house in the street.”

Alexander MacGregor lived at Hillside Villa in Everton from 1812 until 1826 when he moved to Manchester to take up the job with the Bank of England. Hillside remained in the family & was rented out until 1841 when it was sold.

Hillside Villa was demolished in around 1850 and the area redeveloped. This new development included McGregor Street, which was named in honour of Alexander MacGregor. He was reputed to have owned number five but as he died in 1828 and the redevelopment was in 1850, he could not have lived there!

His son, Alexander MacGregor died in 1842 & his nephew also Alexander MacGregor lived in New York and on his return to the UK, lived in London. So who was the Alexander MacGregor who lived at no 5 McGregor Street?

[Gay J Oliver]

Hello hzx043,

I agree with Woody in that I have found some of my ancestors residences mentioned in addition to their place of business in some early trade directories.

One other idea, have you thought of contacting the Bank of England Museum:

www.bankofengland.co.uk/about/history/archive/index.htm

They have a huge archive of material dating back to their inception in 1694. I would imagine there was quite a bit of correspondance going back and forth between London and Manchester.

[Woody]

Hi hzx043

The question of who lived at the house in MacGregor Street is one I’m afraid I can’t answer, but your own research sounds so thorough it’s more likely to be the information on the street-name website that’s unreliable. The only thing I’m not sure about is the house number in MacGregor Street which I'd interpreted as the postal district rather than the house number i.e. Liverpool, 5. Howevr, your research might well be more accurate than I disagreeumption.

In my own initial ‘McGregor’ search of the 1841 census some time ago, I located only one Alexander McGregor of the right general age in Liverpool. He was a physician, born about 1806 and living at St George’s Hill, Everton. There’s a contact address together with the detail of his immediate ancestry in a pedigree resource file on the LDS www.familysearch.org website. Also at that St George’s Hill address, at least on the night of the census, was William McGregor, a merchant born about 1811.

Since both were marked ‘born in the county’ and I knew that my McGregor was born in Scotland, I ruled these two out of my own line and didn’t pursue either of them subsequently.

However, intrigued by your response, I had another quick browse today.

There’s a Liverpool death index record for an Alexander McGregor in 1846 and I couldn’t find him again in any census subsequent to 1841. Neither is he recorded as a physician in the 1847 Slater’s Directory for LIverpool. Unfortunately this death is too early to be able to pin him down in the medical registers accessible on-line.

On the topic of Alexander’s Manchester address, I’ll see if I can root out more information in the Salford family history library next time I’m there.

I did find a bit of relevant correspondence about Alexander MacGregor on the St George's Church, Everton website (which might actually be your own). www.yoliverpool.com/forum/showthread.php?p=162314

I see that Gay has beaten me to what would have been my final suggestion about contacting the Bank of England direct. Having no money to manage at present, they might just be able to find time to respond to a request from you !!

Woody

[Woody]

Hi Gay

I see that the moderating machinery has caught me out again. Now that I've understood why this happens, I'll try to remember to re-phrase certain combinations of words. At the end of the 1st para in my previous response, 'than the assumption I've made' would have got through the net. And thanks for the recent kind comment.

Woody

[hzx043]

Thanks to everybody for your help and suggestions.

I have contacted the Bank of England archives and they have provided some interesting data regarding Alexander MacGregor’s career at the bank, but have no personal details on him. The Bank of England’s salary ledger shows that Alexander was elected as agent on the 17th August 1826 and that he was paid £1,000. He “quitted” on the 16th October 1828, two months before his death.


Alexander Drummond alias McGrigor was born and Baptised on the 26th July 1772 in “Culntogil” known as Coilantogle today, near Callander, Perthshire, Scotland, the eighth and last child of John Drummond alias McGrigor and Ann Wood. He immigrated to New York in 1781 and returned to the UK in 1803 and married his second wife, Helen Thompson. They settled in Liverpool. His surname was then spelt MacGregor.

Their eldest son also named Alexander MacGregor, was an army physician and lived with his brother William at 2 St. Georges Hill in 1841. On the 26th April 1842, Alexander committed suicide by cutting his throat and the main artery of his left thigh. I can not find the original inquest documents; therefore the only detail of the event is from newspapers of the day. The verdict was suicide while labouring under insanity!

Thomas Carlyle wrote to his wife Jane Welsh Carlyle, who was Alexander & William’s cousin, on the 30th April 1842, four days after his death saying:

“What a hideous affair is that of poor Macgregor. Folly's steps lead not to blessedness, lead down to Bedlam and Death. Poor fellow!”

Frustratingly, they don’t say what he actually did to cause him to commit suicide!!!!

I am also still trying to find out how the MacGregor family are connected to Jane Welsh Carlyle; I can’t find the common ancestor!!!!

The pedigree resource file & the question regarding St George's Church, Everton are both mine. Alexander MacGregor senior and his direct family are buried in a vault there, including Alexander his son who committed suicide.

[Gay J Oliver]

Not strictly related to your question, but I have just found a notice of Bankruptcy dated 21 August 1829 in the Liverpool Mercury for the firm of John and Alexander MacGregor - Merchants, which I can send by email if you don't already have it.

Hello Woody,

You can tell the software is American then. I'm surprised that I am not moderated in some way:)

best wishes
GAY

[hzx043]

Hi Gay,

Yes, please mail me the newspaper cutting. Alexander had a son John by his first wife in America & the Alexander may have been his nephew whom he took into business in about 1822. From some letters I have copies of, from the Stirling archives, they were both poor businessmen and were more interested in spending money than making it!!!!

[Gay J Oliver]

Just a quick note. I checked Manchester Trade Directories in our library today and sadly there was no private residence listed for Alexander MacGregor.

He was just listed under BANKERS King Street Manchester , cashier

[hzx043]

Hi Gay,

Thank you very much for checking the Trade Directories on my behalf.

I’ve been thinking about Alexander MacGregor and his Manchester residence. It may have been that he off course rented a property rather than purchasing one.

Most of the detailed info about his Liverpool property has come from the advert of explosion for the Macgregor Trust Estate on 25th September 1840 in the Liverpool Mercury newspaper. It listed the following:

Saint Domingo – a Georgian house & estate.

Hill-side House - The commodious Family DEWELLING-HOUSE, situate on the north side of Saint Georges’s-hill, Everton, called Hill-side House, with the Gardens, Hothouses, Stables, and Coach-houses, formally the residence of the late Alexander McGregor, Esq. And also the MESSUAGE, called Hill-side Cottage, now in the occupation of Mrs. McGregor. The site of this lot contains 8800 square yards, or thereabouts.

20 Maryland Street - A DWELLING-HOUSE, No. 20 in Maryland-street, Liverpool, containing in front 6 yards, and in depth 33 yards, or thereabouts, and now in the occupation of John Welsh. Esq. This Let is Leasehold, under the Corporation of Liverpool, for three lives (all in being) and 21 years.

4 Saint James’s Walk - A commodious DEWLLING-HOUSE, No. 4 in St. James’s walk, Liverpool, containing in front 21 feet 6 inches, and in depth 121 feet, and now in the occupation of James Scott, Esq. This and the foregoing Lot are Freehold of inheritance.

Brunswick Street Warehouses - Two extensive and well built WAREHOUSES, situate on the north side of Brunswick-street, in Liverpool, one to the front of Brunswick-street, the other immediately behind, having an approach, in common, through an archway. The site contains to the front of Brunswick-street 39 feet 9 inches, and at the back 43 feet 6 inches, on the west side 43 yards and 9 inches, and on the east 44 yards and 9 inches, and in the whole, including the Yard between the two warehouses, 572 square yards, or thereabouts.

If he had a Manchester property, perhaps there may have been a explosion advert in one of the Manchester newspapers around the 25th September 1840?

I have also found the following article in the Liverpool Mercury dated Friday, May 15th, 1829, five months after his death.

“Fire.- On Monday last, about half-past one, a fire was discovered to have broken out in the premises occupied by Mr. MacGregor, opposite the new Cemetery, at Low Hill. At half-past two a party of police and the Royal Exchange engines arrived, and were followed by the Manchester and Sun. A supply of water was obtained from a large pond about 300 yrs from the premises, and was brought down by means of a sough. The back part on the premises was entirely destroyed, and the preservation of the front was solely owing to the strenuous and well directed exertions of the policemen, and firemen belonging to the Royal Exchange engine. Great damage was sustained, but we have not heard to what extent. We are sorry to add that the premises were uninsured.”

Having three Alexander MacGregor’s in the family, all living in Liverpool around 1828/1829 makes it difficult to determine which one owned Low Hill. Obviously, it was not Alexander MacGregor senor as had recently died, but perhaps he had been living there and commuting in to Manchester, although the trip would have taken a good hour and a half by stage coach. Perhaps another news paper carried the story and noted which MacGregor was the owner of Low Hill.

Alexander MacGregor senor was also paranoid about fire insurance and was an agent for several insurance companies. His trading premises in Pine Street, New York were renowned for being fire proof.