George Gregory (1775–1860) was born in 1775 in London. His father was Daniel Gregory (1747–1819) who was a partner in the merchant firm Burton Forbes and Gregory. George did not follow his father’s occupation as a merchant instead he became the owner of an estate called Sprotlands in Willesborough. In 1825 at the age of 50 he married Elizabeth Price who was twenty years his junior but the couple appear to have had no children. They moved to Harlaxton Manor after he received his inheritance as the 1855 Post Office Directory of Lincolnshire shows that he is in residence at that time.