Robert Gregory was an Irish-born East India merchant and politician who sat in the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 from 1768 to 1784.

Gregory was the only son of Henry Gregory of Galway

Galway

Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...

 and his wife Mary Shawe. He went to India where he served with Honourable East India Company and made a considerable fortune. In 1766 he returned from India and settled in Kent. In 1768 he acquired the Coole Park

Coole Park

Coole Park is a nature reserve of approximately operated by the Irish National Parks & Wildlife Service and is located a few miles west of Gort, County Galway, Ireland. The park contains extensive woodlands and a series of turloughs with 6 kilometres of signposted nature trails plus a formal...

 estate of 8000 acres at Galway in Ireland and built a house there.

Gregory was a Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for Maidstone

Maidstone (UK Parliament constituency)

Maidstone was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.The parliamentary borough of Maidstone returned two Members of Parliament from 1552 until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member...

 from 18 March 1768 - 8 October 1774. He was then MP for Rochester

Rochester (UK Parliament constituency)

Rochester was a parliamentary constituency in Kent. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, then to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800, and finally to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801...

, Kent from 7 October 1774 to 1 April 1784. He was also a director of the East India Company between 1769 and 1782 and then chairman briefly before he retired through ill-health.

Gregory married Maria Auchmuty, daughter of an official of the East India Company, and had three sons. Of these, William Gregory was civil-under secretary for Ireland from 1812 to 1830 and was the grandfather of William Henry Gregory

William Henry Gregory

Sir William Henry Gregory PC was an Anglo-Irish writer and politician.The only child of Robert Gregory and Elizabeth O'Hara Gregory, he was born at the Castle, in Dublin's Phoenix Park. From 1830 to 1835 he attended Harrow, where he was an award-winning student...

.