Family and Education

b. c.1712, 1st s. of George Munro of Newmore by Margaret, da. of Duncan Forbes, M.P. [S], of Culloden, sis. of John and Duncan Forbes. unm. suc. fa. 1737.

Offices Held

Ensign 14 Ft. 1731; lt. 32 Ft. 1735;1 capt. 42 Ft. 1740, lt.-col. 1747.

Biography

Descended from a collateral branch of the Munros of Foulis, John Munro obtained ‘a pair of colours’ through the influence of his uncle, Duncan Forbes. Next year he decided to stand at a by-election for Ross-shire, though the head of his house, Sir Robert Munro of Foulis, had set up his brother for the county. His uncle disapproved,

as the period of this Parliament is so short, and as living in London might draw the young fellow into a course of complications and expense that do not suit his purpose, or his fortune.

However,

by his calculation he had a dead majority amongst the Whigs, so that he was secure, unless the Mackenzies cast the balance, and as he had been informed that Sir Robert Munro had very early wrote to the late [i.e. attainted] Lord Seaforth for his interest with the freeholders of his name he ... mounted his steed, rode post to Paris, where Lord Seaforth then was, outran Sir Robert’s letter upon the road, and had a favourable answer from my Lord before Sir Robert’s letter reached him.2

Though Sir Robert Munro gained the support of Lord Ilay, Walpole’s election manager for Scotland, John Munro carried his election, his opponent giving up. In Parliament he supported the Government, voting for the excise bill in 1733, but he did not stand in 1741. Exchanging into Sir Robert Munro’s regiment in 1740, he served at Fontenoy. He died in 1749.3

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Romney R. Sedgwick

Notes

• 1. See Duncan Forbes to Walpole, 29 July 1735, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.
• 2. More Culloden Pprs. iii. 61-64; Gent. Mag. 1731, p. 85.
• 3. A. Mackenzie, Munros of Foulis, 199.