orig. Robert MacGregor
(baptized March 7, 1671, Buchanan, Stirlingshire, Scot.
died Dec. 28, 1734, Balquhidder, Perthshire) Scottish Highland outlaw.
Nephew of the chief of the MacGregor clan, he became a freebooter and apparently engaged in the time-honoured Border practices of cattle stealing and blackmail. After the penal laws against the MacGregors were reintroduced (1693), he took the surname Campbell and frequently signed himself Rob Roy ("Red Rob"), in reference to his red hair. He became a brigand after his financial ruin in 1712 and exacted tribute for protection against thieves. Arrested in 1722, he was pardoned in 1727. He was glamorously portrayed as a Scottish Robin Hood in Walter Scott 's novel Rob Roy .