With the passing of Mr. William McGregor, whose death took place yesterday at his home at 26 Castleblair Park, Dunfermline has lost its oldest inhabitant. Mr. McGregor had reached the ripe old age of 97 and retained all of his faculties till the end. A native of Dunfermline, Mr. McGregor was associated during the whole of his working life with the linen industry, and was one of the remaining few who had witnessed the change from the hand-loom to the power-loom. Originally a hand-loom weaver himself, he was later in the employment of Erskine Beveridge &. Company, Limited. He was engaged in Dundee for a time and then went to Ireland where he spent seventeen years. Returning to Dunfermline he entered the employment of R.E. Walker Reid & Company, Ltd., as a yarn dresser at their Albany Works, where he remained until his retirement in 1910.

Covering such a long span of years, Mr. McGregor’s reminiscences of Dunfermline were naturally of a most interesting character, and on more than one occasion here have appeared in the columns of the Press his recollections of outstanding events in the history of the town. A keen student of Politics he at one time enjoyed the reputation of being the only workingman Tory in Dunfermline. Until advancing years prevented his pursuit of the pastime, angling was his principal hobby. Another hobby which claimed his attention was that of crayon sketching.

Mr. McGregor is survived by three sons, two of whom reside in America, the other being Mr. W.B. McGregor, designer, Dunfermline. A sister of the deceased gentleman, Mrs. Fraser, who resides in Dewar Street, is 91 years of age.