He was the son of
David Gregory (1661–1708), the mathematician. Two years after his father's death Gregory was admitted a queen's scholar of
Westminster School, from which in 1714 he was elected to
Christ Church, Oxford. He graduated B.A. 8 May 1718, and M.A. 27 June 1721, and on 18 April 1724 became the first Professor of Modern History and Languages at Oxford. He soon afterwards took orders and was appointed rector of
Semley,
Wiltshire; proceeding B.D. 13 March 1731 and D.D. in the following year (7 July 1732). He continued to hold his professorship till 1736, when he resigned it on his appointment to a
canonry in
Christ Church Cathedral (installed 8 June). While canon (1750) he repaired and adorned Christ Church Hall, and presented to it busts of kings George I and George II. He was promoted to the deanery (installed 18 May 1756). Under his directions while dean the upper rooms in the
college library were finished (1761), and he is said to have restored the terraces in the great quadrangle (
Tom Quad). On 15 September 1759 he was also appointed Master of
Sherburn Hospital,
County Durham, where he started to cut down a wood on the hospital estates, and with the proceeds from the timber improved the accommodation, as mentioned by an anonymous eulogy
Essay on the Life of David Gregory, late Dean of Christ Church, London (1769). In 1761 he was
prolocutor of the lower
Convocation House. He died at the age of seventy-one, 16 September 1767, and was buried under a plain slab with a short Latin inscription in the cathedral, his wedding ring tied to his finger. Gregory was a considerable benefactor both to his college and Sherburne Hospital. ==Works==