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Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor

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Born

in Leith, The United Kingdom

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April 2012

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TAMBURLAINE BRYCE MACGREGOR was born in Leith in February 1811. The seventh son of a Guildsman of the Edenborough Merchant Adventurers, he was destined to enter his father’s profession until, aged eleven, a near-fatal bout of polio left him permanently lame and dogged by ill health. Forced to abandon his apprenticeship with the guild and encouraged by his mother, MacGregor developed his natural gift with words and turned to poetry, finding success in his early twenties with publication in the Edenborough Review and other literary periodicals.

Two works in particular, The Whale’s Road and Roy of the Reivers established MacGregor within the ‘minstrel’ tradition, however, his success as a poet proved short-lived. The publication of Lord Tyrone’ TAMBURLAINE BRYCE MACGREGOR was born in Leith in February 1811. The seventh son of a Guildsman of the Edenborough Merchant Adventurers, he was destined to enter his father’s profession until, aged eleven, a near-fatal bout of polio left him permanently lame and dogged by ill health. Forced to abandon his apprenticeship with the guild and encouraged by his mother, MacGregor developed his natural gift with words and turned to poetry, finding success in his early twenties with publication in the Edenborough Review and other literary periodicals.

Two works in particular, The Whale’s Road and Roy of the Reivers established MacGregor within the ‘minstrel’ tradition, however, his success as a poet proved short-lived. The publication of Lord Tyrone’s groundbreaking The Harrow and the Child in 1840 heralded a new form of poetry: dramatic realism, and not for the last time Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor found himself out of step with public taste. Realising his limitations as a poet, he turned to prose.

Published in 1841, MacGregor’s first novel, The Old Man and the Mountain, showed considerable promise and over the next four years he wrote The Barra Bride, Maid of Norway, Camberwick and The Saxon Trilogy, each receiving good notices and increasing sales. His five volume Arthurian Cycle (1848–1851) brought him lasting success and fame and soon after came Wyvenhoe, Willoughby Chaste and King Stephen, among other works. By 1855 MacGregor was recognised as Scotland’s foremost novelist with King Charles VII and the First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Wells, among his admirers, with the former having appointed MacGregor as Master of the King’s Revels in June 1853. Edmund Pevensie, the tale of a hard-done-by Scottish nobleman who finds redemption and love in Napoleonic France, published in 1857, won MacGregor acclaim overseas and at New Year 1858 King Charles granted him the Baronetcy of Tweeddale and the Order of the Thistle in recognition of his services to Scotland. Lauded at home and abroad, the Fates seemed to have smiled upon MacGregor, not least in his private life.

In the June of 1857 MacGregor had met Miss Madeleine Nicholson, a lady-in-waiting at Holyrood Palace and the daughter of Sir Henry Hawkins Nicholson. King Charles, always keen to impress foreign dignitaries with Scotland’s culture and learning, frequently called on MacGregor to provide literary entertainments at Holyrood. MacGregor’s journals show he found these duties onerous and undignified, but he could scarcely refuse the king. MacGregor met Madeleine Nicholson at a function for the Rajah of Shantipore, and despite the age difference—he was then forty-six, an old man by the standards of his times, she twenty-one—the attraction was immediate, and courtship and marriage followed in December the same year. Immediately after their wedding, Madeleine (now Lady Madeleine) joined MacGregor at Arbinger Abbey in Tweeddale, but frequent and lengthy visits to her friends and relatives back in Edenborough suggest life at Arbinger did not wholly agree with her. Even today, Tweeddale is a rural backwater and with her new husband chained to his writing desk, or away promoting his latest publication, it is not surprising Lady Madeleine found it difficult to adjust to Arbinger’s isolation.

Nevertheless, she was soon with child. MacGregor wrote in his journal of his joy at becoming a father, but alas his hopes were dashed when Lady Madeleine died in childbirth, along with the son she was carrying.
Following Madeleine’s death in October 1858 MacGregor abandoned Edenborough and the Royal Court and spurned all but his most trusted friends. Abandoning a part-written novel, The Young Man of Lochnagar, for two years he wrote only his personal journals and what he later called ‘Black Books’, all of which he subsequently destroyed and whose content can only be guessed at from the vague, cryptic notes in his journals. To friends and admirers, the ‘Bard of Tweeddale’ seemed permanently sile ...more

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Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor’s books

Average rating: 4.76 · 17 ratings · 10 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	This Iron Race: Book One by Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor (Goodreads Author), Nevil Warbrook (Editor) 4.80 avg rating — 10 ratings — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Iron Race: Book Two by Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor (Goodreads Author), Nevil Warbrook (editor) 4.60 avg rating — 5 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Iron Race: Book Three by Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor (Goodreads Author), Nevil Warbrook (Editor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	This Iron Race: Book Three by Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor (Goodreads Author), Nevil Warbrook (Editor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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This Iron Race: Book Three

by Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor (Goodreads Author)

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Sep 14, 2025 07:14AM

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Sir MacGregor and 1 other person liked Steve Kimmins's review of This Iron Race: Book Three: "Continuing this clever self published fantasy that consists of two parallel series whose books interleave in probably the most fascinating manner I’ve come across. One series (now at volume 3) documents the life, in almost diary format, of a quiet liv" Read more of this review »
Sep 14, 2025 07:14AM · see review
Sir MacGregor is currently reading This Iron Race: Book Three by Sir Tamburlaine Bryce MacGregor (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 14, 2025 07:14AM · like
Sir MacGregor liked Jack Bates's review of This Iron Race: Book Three: "Seriously, don't read this unless you've read the first two books, it will make no sense. As with the Book Two, it might be easiest to quote myself from my review of Book One to give you an idea of what to expect if you're reading this in order to d" Read more of this review »
Aug 25, 2025 03:59AM · see review
Sir MacGregor and 1 other person liked Jack Bates's review of Spook Street (Slough House, #4): "This is the only storyline that I'd vaguely listened to while Ollie watched it on the telly, so none of it was a massive surprise (except one thing, no spoilers). These are very competently written, even though they do feel oddly dated. As I've said " Read more of this review »
Aug 18, 2025 07:26PM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Spook Street by Mick Herron. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Spook Street by Mick Herron <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Sir MacGregor and 1 other person liked Rob Gregson's review of The Reluctant Ascent of Nevil Warbrook, in his own words: Volume One, Intimations of Mortality: "Intelligent, gentle and often very funny, these 'journals' provide an exceptionally entertaining accompaniment to This Iron Race: Book One and This Iron Race: Book Two. Nevil might be a fictional author but he's very entertaining company. The world h" Read more of this review »
Jul 25, 2025 04:13AM · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Reluctant Ascent of Nevil Warbrook, in his own words by Nevil Warbrook. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Reluctant Ascent of Nevil Warbrook, in his own words by Nevil Warbrook <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Sir MacGregor made a comment on Jack Bates’s review of The Salt Path " What are your thoughts on the current "scandal" that, shock horror, some of the book may not be entirely truthful? By Sir? That's Sir Tamburlaine. For ...more "
Jul 09, 2025 07:19PM · see review
Sir MacGregor is now following Kit Mallory Author of Blackout (Blackout #1)
Feb 02, 2025 04:14PM · like
Sir MacGregor made a comment on Jack Bates’s review of The Rings of Saturn " One of my favourite novels. When I read it around eighteen years ago it redefined for me what a novel could be. Alas, reading it also coincided with l ...more "
Oct 02, 2024 06:47PM · see review
Sir MacGregor rated a book really liked it A Streetcar Named Aberystwyth (Aberystwyth Noir, #7) by Malcolm Pryce (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
May 26, 2024 07:35PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of A Streetcar Named Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — A Streetcar Named Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Sir MacGregor is now following Rob Gregson's reviews
Mar 14, 2024 06:20AM · like

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Sir’s Quotes

“It comes down to this: if I do not lose weight, I shall die; if I do not curb my drinking, I shall die; if I do not take more exercise, I shall die; and, according to that ghastly inflatable contraption that measures your blood pressure, if they don’t get me a burst artery will.
Sobering news on the eve of a chap’s fifty-eighth birthday; especially so when Daddy didn’t live to see his fifty-ninth.”
― Nevil Warbrook, The Reluctant Ascent of Nevil Warbrook, in his own words: Volume One, Intimations of Mortality

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