This thesis considers the Gaelic and English prose writings of the Rev. Alexander
MacGregor (1806 -1881), who was a minister of the Established Church in Kilmuir,
Skye, in Edinburgh, and latterly in Inverness. Along with the Rev. Dr. Norman
MacLeod (Caraid nan Gaidheal), he was one of the most prolific writers of Gaelic
prose in the nineteenth century. The thesis includes a catalogue of all his known
writings, published and unpublished, numbering 278 separate entries. Although use is
made of his writings in English there is a particular emphasis on those written in
Gaelic. His writings span the period 1838 -1881. The thesis considers the subjects
which he chose to write about, the style in which he wrote, and the purpose to which
he put his writing. It begins by providing background to the period, biographical
information about the writer and discussion of the forms and styles which he used in
his writing. A thematic approach is then adopted, considering by chapter, his writings
on famine and emigration, slavery, the natural world, Highland folklore, proverbs and
moral tales and finally his attitude to the Gaelic language. Account is taken of those
influences both from within and outwith the Highlands which moulded his writing,
influences such as English language journals, the Victorian ethos of improvement and
self -help, the romanticisation of the Highlands, and the impulse to preserve the past.
These chapters offer insights into the activities and interests of the Moderate Gaelic -
speaking clergyman of the nineteenth century, of whom there were a significant
number involved in activities similar to MacGregor's, whether as writers of Gaelic
prose, collectors of proverbs, or those with an active interest in Highland folklore. His
writings shed light on social change in the Highlands in the nineteenth century, from
the perspective of a minister whose parishioners experienced famine and emigration in
the 1840s. Equally revealing is his perspective on the issues of land rights in the
period immediately prior to the Land Agitation period of the 1880s. MacGregor's
writing also furnishes information about the emerging Gaelic periodical press in the
nineteenth century, demonstrating the way in which it provided the clergy with a
wider audience than was previously available to them, to whom they could preach and
teach through the printed word. The thesis concludes that MacGregor's writings show
how a new role had emerged for ministers both in interpreting the outside world for
the Gaels in their native language, and in interpreting the Highlands for the outside
world, as demonstrated by MacGregor's writings in both Gaelic and English
