Family and Education

b. aft. 25 June 1680, posth. s. of Sir Richard Munden of Bromley St. Leonard’s by Susanna Gore. unm.  suc. fa. at birth.1

Offices Held

Capt. 1 Ft. Gds. 1702; lt.-col. Lovelace Ft. 1706; brevet col. 1706; col. of ft. 1708–12; brig.-gen. 1712; col. 13 Drag. Gds. 1715–22, 8 Hussars 1722–d.

Biography

Munden’s grandfather was described as ‘the ferryman at Chelsea’, and both his father and his uncle had distinguished naval careers after the Restoration. Munden, however, broke with the family tradition and in 1702 obtained a captain’s commission in the Duke of Marlborough’s (John Churchill†) regiment, in which he served two years later at Blenheim. Having obtained promotion in 1706, he fought later the same year at Ramillies, and in 1708 was given his own regiment. At this time Munden’s regiment was based in Ireland, but in the spring of 1708 his troops were ordered to England in preparation for the summer descent. Shortly afterwards Munden was successful at the Camelford election, his return being classed by Lord Sunderland (Charles, Lord Spencer*) as a Whig ‘gain’. It seems likely that his military duties in Spain prevented his attendance at the 1709–10 session, and he did not stand at the 1710 election. After being taken prisoner at Brihuega in December 1710, Munden remained in Spain until the peace negotiations. His regiment was disbanded and placed on half-pay in 1712, though the following year the report of the commissioners of accounts stated that they had been unable to find the muster rolls of Munden’s register for the years 1711–12. In 1715 Munden raised a regiment of horse and fought at Preston against the Jacobite rebels, and the following year he received arrears for his service in the Iberian Peninsula and was placed on the general staff of the Irish establishment. He took part in the funeral procession of the Duke of Marlborough in August 1722, and remained in the army until his death, in Dublin, on 19 Sept. 1725.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Le Neve’s Knights (Harl. Soc. viii), 370–1; DNB (Munden, Sir Richard); Lysons, Environs (1792–6), ii. 64–65.
• 2. DNB; Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 284; Marlborough–Godolphin Corresp. 967, 972; Cal. Treas. Bks. xxvii. 403; xxx. 256, 259, 338, 562; HMC Lords, n.s. x. 43; Boyer, Pol. State, xxx. 315.