Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monro, Henry (1791-1814)
MONRO, HENRY (1791–1814), portrait and subject painter, the son of Dr. Thomas Monro [q. v.], was born 30 Aug. 1791. After two years at Harrow he entered the navy, but quitted it from distaste, after a few days on board the frigate Amelia. His inclinations then wavered between the army and art, but he finally chose the latter, and was admitted a student of the Royal Academy in 1806. Here and at the colour school of the British Institution he studied with great diligence and distinction. In 1811 he exhibited 'A Laughing Boy,' 'Boys at Marbles,' a portrait of his father, and two other portraits, and in the following year a 'Boy Grinding Colours,' a 'Lace-maker,' and four portraits, including one of Thomas Hearne and another of himself. In 1813 he sent a 'Head,' some studies from nature in pen and ink, and 'Othello, Desdemona, and Iago' to the Royal Academy, and 'The Disgrace of Wolsey' to the British Institution; for the latter he was awarded a premium of a hundred guineas. In 1811 he had visited Scotland, and sustained serious injuries by a fall from his horse, and in January 1814 he was seized with a cold, which affected his lungs, and cut short his promising career at the age of twenty-three. A portrait by him of his father (in coloured chalks) is in the College of Physicians. He died on 5 March 1814, and was buried at Bushey, where a monument was erected to his memory.
[Redgrave's Dict.; Bryan's Dict.; Munk's Coll. of Phys. (under 'Dr. Thomas Monro'); Royal Academy Catalogues; Annals of the Fine Arts, 1816, pp. 342-6; Clutterbuck's History of Hertfordshire.]