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Monro
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Monro

deavoured to make their way back to the highlands. After they had been brought back and three of them shot as deserters, the regiment embarked for Flanders towards the end of May, but was not engaged in active service till the arrival of the Duke of Cumberland in April 1745, when an attempt was made to raise the siege of Tournay. The regiment greatly distinguished itself in various skirmishes previous to the battle of Fontenoy on 11 May. On the day of the battle, Munro ' obtained leave of the Duke of Cumberland to allow them to fight in their own way.' Accordingly they were ordered to 'clap to the ground' on receiving the French fire, and instantly after it they sprang up, before the enemy could reload, and, rushing in upon them, poured in their shot with such effect as to drive them into confusion. This manœuvre was repeated by them on several occasions with similar effect (account by Philip Dodridge in Appendix to the Life of Colonel Gardiner). Munro himself, being old and corpulent, was unable to 'clap to the ground' with his men, but although he alone of the regiment remained erect, with the colours behind him, he escaped scatheless. In the charges he showed equal activity with his men, and when in the trenches was pulled out by them by the legs and arms (ib.) The regiment's peculiar mode of fighting attracted the special notice of the French. 'The highland fiends,' wrote a French eye-witness, 'rushed in upon us with more violence than ever did a sea driven by a tempest' (account of the battle, published at Paris, 26 May 1745, in Stewart, Highlanders, i. 283). The valour and determination shown by the regiment led the Duke of Cumberland to choose it, along with the 19th, to cover the retreat, which was done with perfect steadiness. In acknowledgment of his services Munro was in June promoted to the command of the 37th regiment, previously held by General Ponsonby, who was slain at Fontenoy.

On the outbreak of the rebellion in 1745, Munro's regiment was ordered to Scotland, and at the battle of Falkirk, 17 Jan. 1746, formed part of the left wing. When the regiment gave way before the charging clans, Munro alone held his ground. Although simultaneously attacked by six men of Lochiel's clan, he gallantly defended himself, killing two of them, but a seventh coming up shot him in the groin with a pistol, whereupon he fell forward, and was at once struck to the ground and killed on the spot. His brother, Dr. Robert Munro, who had come to his assistance, was killed about the same time. Next day their bodies were discovered by some of the Macdonalds, and buried in the churchyard of Falkirk, all the chiefs of the rebel clans attending the funeral. The right hand of Munro after death still clutched the pommel of the sword, from which the blade was broken off. By his wife Mary, daughter of Henry Seymour of Woodlands, he had three sons : Robert, who died young; Harry, who succeeded him; and George, an officer in the royal navy, who died in 1743.

[Account of the Munros of Foulis in Appendix to Doddridge's Life of Colonel Gardiner; Stewart's Highlanders of Scotland; Cannon's Records of the British Army; Patten's History of the Rebellion; Culloden Papers; Douglas's Baronage of Scotland; Foster's Baronetage.]

T. F. H.


MONRO, THOMAS (1764–1815), miscellaneous writer, son of the Rev. Thomas Monro of Wargrave, Berkshire, was born 9 Oct. 1764. He was nephew of Dr. Alexander Monro primus [q. v.], and first cousin of Dr. Alexander Monro secundus [q. v.] He was educated in the free schools of Colchester and Norwich under Dr. Samuel Parr [q. v.], who always held him in high regard. On 11 July 1782 he matriculated at St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and in 1783 he was elected to a demyship at Magdalen College, which he resigned on his marriage, 7 June 1797. He graduated B.A. in 1787, and M.A. in 1791. He was curate of Selborne, Hampshire, from 1798 till 1800, when he was presented by Lord Maynard to the rectory of Little Easton, Essex, where he died on 25 Sept. 1815.

His works are: 1. 'Olla Podrida, a Periodical Work,' comprising forty-eight weekly numbers, Oxford, 1787, fol.; 2nd edit. London, 1788, 8vo; reprinted in Lynam's edition of the 'British Essayists,' vol. xxviii. (London, 1827, 12mo). In conducting this periodical, of which he was the projector and editor, he was assisted by Bishop Horne, then president of Magdalen College, Messrs. Headley, Kett, Gower, and other Oxford men. 2. 'Essays on various Subjects,' London, 1790, 8vo. 3. 'Alciphron's Epistles; in which are described the Domestic Manners, the Courtesans, and Parasites of Greece. Now first translated from the Greek,' London, 1791, 8vo, by Monro and William Beloe [q. v.] 4. 'Modern Britons, and Spring in London,' London, 1792. 5. 'Philoctetes in Lemnos. A Drama in three acts. To which is prefixed A Greenroom Scene, exhibiting a Sketch of the present Theatrical Taste: inscribed with due Deference to the Managers of Covent Garden and Drury Lane Theatres by their humble servant, Oxoniensis,' London, 1795, 8vo (cf. Baker, Biog. Dram. ed. Reed and Jones, iii. 144).