Did Rob Roy really live?

Yes, He was Robert MacGregor, the leader of a band of Scottish outlaws. Sir Walter Scott featured him in a heroic role in his popular novel Rob Roy. MacGregor called himself Rob Roy, roy meaning red. Rob Roy had red hair. He was born 1671, in Buchanan parish, Stirlingshire. As a cattle farmer at Balquhidder, he raised a band of armed men, who also guarded the herds of neighboring farmers on payment of a tax.

Unable to repay a loan made to him by the Duke of Montrose, he was in 1712 evicted by the duke from his estates and outlawed. At the head of a band of followers, he raided the estates of the duke and his tenants, defying all attempts to capture him.