Sir Alexander Munro, of Novar

Notes:

Sir Alexander served as Consul-general at Madrid and later as Commissioner of Customs in England. He displayed such zeal and ability in the latter position that he was knighted.

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[Sir Alexander Munro] «i»Younger son of Hugh Munro (d. 1756) of Novar Family & Isabella Gordon & brother of General Sir Hector Munro; Consul General of Madrid, knighted 17 March, 1783; Commissioner of Custom Duties for England & Wales 15 Nov., 1786; suceeded Sir Hector died 20 December, 1806 Crown Charter of Achnagall; entailed estates 16 March, 1808; died Ramsgate 26 August, 1810, having married (1) cousin Margret Munro (d.1768), with issue Alexander (Capt. died 1778); (2) at Ripon 17 July, 1791 Margaret Penelope Johnstone (d.1814) with issue Hector Alexander (1792-1811), Hugh Andrew Johnstone (succeeded 1797-1864) & Isabel Margaret (m. 1834 Hon. Henry Alan Butler Johnstone) (1794-1873).

Munro Tree L/72; Makenzie 536-7; Dictionary of National Biography under Sir Hector died 1809 (wrong); Scots Magazine(1770) 168; (1783) 167; (1786) 572; (1810) 719; (1814) 958; Gents Magazine (1770) 144; (1783) i275; (1791) 360; 1792) 204;(1794) ii 956; J. Barron N. Highlands in 19th Century i 5-6. 37; Register of Great Seal of Scotland (Manuscript in SRO) C2-137-96, 20 Dec.1806; SRO reference RT 1/53/243-69-1808 entail; E.T. Coleridge 'Life of T. Coutts' i165,167,172,239,296,300;British Library Add Manuscript 378,378 for 78; Burke's Landed Gentry (1858) memo of services; Book of Dignities 276; W.A. Shaw 'Knights of England' (1906) ii 297; F. Townsend 'Calendar of Knights'(1828) 42; Session Cases (1868-9) 251; Fortrose (1912) 153; Tain Royal Acad, MS mins ii 45,48; 1816 appeal 17,26; Novar Pedigree (1784) 1st Wife; Hodson 'Officers of the Bengal Army' iii 352.

«/i»(R. W. Munro's genealogy notes)«i»
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References:

(1) "The Munro Tree (1734)" by R. W. Munro - Edinburgh (1978) - L/72

(2) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 514, 536

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Died:
Alexander died at Ramsgate.

Family/Spouse: Margaret Munro. Margaret (daughter of Andrew Munro and Margaret Urquhart) was born est 1733; died in 1768. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Alexander married Margaret Penelope Johnstone on 17 Jul 1791. Margaret was born about 1731; died in 1814. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

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The following is a transcription of RW "Billy" Munro's genealogy notes:

[Sir Alexander Munro] «i»Younger son of Hugh Munro (d. 1756) of Novar Family & Isabella Gordon & brother of General Sir Hector Munro; Consul General of Madrid, knighted 17 March, 1783; Commissioner of Custom Duties for England & Wales 15 Nov., 1786; suceeded Sir Hector died 20 December, 1806 Crown Charter of Achnagall; entailed estates 16 March, 1808; died Ramsgate 26 August, 1810, having married (1) cousin Margret Munro (d.1768), with issue Alexander (Capt. died 1778); (2) at Ripon 17 July, 1791 Margaret Penelope Johnstone (d.1814) with issue Hector Alexander (1792-1811), Hugh Andrew Johnstone (succeeded 1797-1864) & Isabel Margaret (m. 1834 Hon. Henry Alan Butler Johnstone) (1794-1873).

Munro Tree L/72; Makenzie 536-7; Dictionary of National Biography under Sir Hector died 1809 (wrong); Scots Magazine(1770) 168; (1783) 167; (1786) 572; (1810) 719; (1814) 958; Gents Magazine (1770) 144; (1783) i275; (1791) 360; 1792) 204;(1794) ii 956; J. Barron N. Highlands in 19th Century i 5-6. 37; Register of Great Seal of Scotland (Manuscript in SRO) C2-137-96, 20 Dec.1806; SRO reference RT 1/53/243-69-1808 entail; E.T. Coleridge 'Life of T. Coutts' i165,167,172,239,296,300;British Library Add Manuscript 378,378 for 78; Burke's Landed Gentry (1858) memo of services; Book of Dignities 276; W.A. Shaw 'Knights of England' (1906) ii 297; F. Townsend 'Calendar of Knights'(1828) 42; Session Cases (1868-9) 251; Fortrose (1912) 153; Tain Royal Acad, MS mins ii 45,48; 1816 appeal 17,26; Novar Pedigree (1784) 1st Wife; Hodson 'Officers of the Bengal Army' iii 352.
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The following is a transcription of RW "Billy" Munro's genealogy notes:

[Alexander Munro] «i»Son of Sir Alexander Munro of Novar (d. 1810); joined Bengal Army; Lieut. 1st Bn. Bengal Europeans; Captain 1777; while proceeding with escort of 22 Sepoys from Kalpi to join Col. Matthew Leslie's camp, he was cut off by a large body of horse & foot & he & most of his party were killed, 4 July 1778. this was perhaps the son by Sir Alexander's first wife Margaret Munro; they had one son who 'died young', acc. to Novar pedigree (1784).

(not in MHM p. 536 where father's 1st marr. Is omitted]; Macpherson, Soldiering in India, p. 92; Infn from Major Hodson 7/10/46; Hodson, List of Officers of Bengal Army 1758-1834, iii p. 352; Novar pedigree (1784) in College of Heralds, London.
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Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Birth:
Estimate: This birth date is an estimate based on the birth dates of nearest relatives or contemporaries, or based on other clues such as christening date, marriage date, birth order, etc.

Notes:

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The following is a transcription of RW "Billy" Munro's genealogy notes:

[Sir Alexander Munro] «i»Younger son of Hugh Munro (d. 1756) of Novar Family & Isabella Gordon & brother of General Sir Hector Munro; Consul General of Madrid, knighted 17 March, 1783; Commissioner of Custom Duties for England & Wales 15 Nov., 1786; suceeded Sir Hector died 20 December, 1806 Crown Charter of Achnagall; entailed estates 16 March, 1808; died Ramsgate 26 August, 1810, having married (1) cousin Margret Munro (d.1768), with issue Alexander (Capt. died 1778); (2) at Ripon 17 July, 1791 Margaret Penelope Johnstone (d.1814) with issue Hector Alexander (1792-1811), Hugh Andrew Johnstone (succeeded 1797-1864) & Isabel Margaret (m. 1834 Hon. Henry Alan Butler Johnstone) (1794-1873).

Munro Tree L/72; Makenzie 536-7; Dictionary of National Biography under Sir Hector died 1809 (wrong); Scots Magazine(1770) 168; (1783) 167; (1786) 572; (1810) 719; (1814) 958; Gents Magazine (1770) 144; (1783) i275; (1791) 360; 1792) 204;(1794) ii 956; J. Barron N. Highlands in 19th Century i 5-6. 37; Register of Great Seal of Scotland (Manuscript in SRO) C2-137-96, 20 Dec.1806; SRO reference RT 1/53/243-69-1808 entail; E.T. Coleridge 'Life of T. Coutts' i165,167,172,239,296,300;British Library Add Manuscript 378,378 for 78; Burke's Landed Gentry (1858) memo of services; Book of Dignities 276; W.A. Shaw 'Knights of England' (1906) ii 297; F. Townsend 'Calendar of Knights'(1828) 42; Session Cases (1868-9) 251; Fortrose (1912) 153; Tain Royal Acad, MS mins ii 45,48; 1816 appeal 17,26; Novar Pedigree (1784) 1st Wife; Hodson 'Officers of the Bengal Army' iii 352.
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Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Notes:

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The following is a transcription of RW "Billy" Munro's genealogy notes:

[Sir Alexander Munro] «i»Younger son of Hugh Munro (d. 1756) of Novar Family & Isabella Gordon & brother of General Sir Hector Munro; Consul General of Madrid, knighted 17 March, 1783; Commissioner of Custom Duties for England & Wales 15 Nov., 1786; suceeded Sir Hector died 20 December, 1806 Crown Charter of Achnagall; entailed estates 16 March, 1808; died Ramsgate 26 August, 1810, having married (1) cousin Margret Munro (d.1768), with issue Alexander (Capt. died 1778); (2) at Ripon 17 July, 1791 Margaret Penelope Johnstone (d.1814) with issue Hector Alexander (1792-1811), Hugh Andrew Johnstone (succeeded 1797-1864) & Isabel Margaret (m. 1834 Hon. Henry Alan Butler Johnstone) (1794-1873).

Munro Tree L/72; Makenzie 536-7; Dictionary of National Biography under Sir Hector died 1809 (wrong); Scots Magazine(1770) 168; (1783) 167; (1786) 572; (1810) 719; (1814) 958; Gents Magazine (1770) 144; (1783) i275; (1791) 360; 1792) 204;(1794) ii 956; J. Barron N. Highlands in 19th Century i 5-6. 37; Register of Great Seal of Scotland (Manuscript in SRO) C2-137-96, 20 Dec.1806; SRO reference RT 1/53/243-69-1808 entail; E.T. Coleridge 'Life of T. Coutts' i165,167,172,239,296,300;British Library Add Manuscript 378,378 for 78; Burke's Landed Gentry (1858) memo of services; Book of Dignities 276; W.A. Shaw 'Knights of England' (1906) ii 297; F. Townsend 'Calendar of Knights'(1828) 42; Session Cases (1868-9) 251; Fortrose (1912) 153; Tain Royal Acad, MS mins ii 45,48; 1816 appeal 17,26; Novar Pedigree (1784) 1st Wife; Hodson 'Officers of the Bengal Army' iii 352.
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References:

(1) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 536

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Isabella married Hon. Henry Alan Butler Johnstone on 14 May 1834. Henry was born about 1792; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Hugh was passionately devoted to the cultivation and encouragement of the fine arts. He spent a good deal of his time painting and he accumulated in London a costly collection of fine paintings by other artists which became well known in the fine art world as the Novar Collection.

Hugh was never married, but he left several illegitimate children. It is said that he lived "a sensuous life."

Ref. (1), p. 537 says his successor inherited portions of Novar in 1864, but p. 538 says he died in 1868.

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[Sir Alexander Munro] «i»Younger son of Hugh Munro (d. 1756) of Novar Family & Isabella Gordon & brother of General Sir Hector Munro; Consul General of Madrid, knighted 17 March, 1783; Commissioner of Custom Duties for England & Wales 15 Nov., 1786; suceeded Sir Hector died 20 December, 1806 Crown Charter of Achnagall; entailed estates 16 March, 1808; died Ramsgate 26 August, 1810, having married (1) cousin Margret Munro (d.1768), with issue Alexander (Capt. died 1778); (2) at Ripon 17 July, 1791 Margaret Penelope Johnstone (d.1814) with issue Hector Alexander (1792-1811), Hugh Andrew Johnstone (succeeded 1797-1864) & Isabel Margaret (m. 1834 Hon. Henry Alan Butler Johnstone) (1794-1873).

Munro Tree L/72; Makenzie 536-7; Dictionary of National Biography under Sir Hector died 1809 (wrong); Scots Magazine(1770) 168; (1783) 167; (1786) 572; (1810) 719; (1814) 958; Gents Magazine (1770) 144; (1783) i275; (1791) 360; 1792) 204;(1794) ii 956; J. Barron N. Highlands in 19th Century i 5-6. 37; Register of Great Seal of Scotland (Manuscript in SRO) C2-137-96, 20 Dec.1806; SRO reference RT 1/53/243-69-1808 entail; E.T. Coleridge 'Life of T. Coutts' i165,167,172,239,296,300;British Library Add Manuscript 378,378 for 78; Burke's Landed Gentry (1858) memo of services; Book of Dignities 276; W.A. Shaw 'Knights of England' (1906) ii 297; F. Townsend 'Calendar of Knights'(1828) 42; Session Cases (1868-9) 251; Fortrose (1912) 153; Tain Royal Acad, MS mins ii 45,48; 1816 appeal 17,26; Novar Pedigree (1784) 1st Wife; Hodson 'Officers of the Bengal Army' iii 352.
«/i»
(R. W. Munro's genealogical notes)«i»
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«i»Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (13 February 1797 - 22 November 1864) was a Scottish art collector.

H.A.J. Munro of Novar was born in London, the nephew of Hector Munro, 8th of Novar, and the son of Sir Alexander Munro (d. 1809). On his father's death in 1809 he became the head of the Munros of Novar and succeeded to the estate of Novar House in Ross-shire. He entered Christ Church, Oxford as a gentleman commoner in 1814 and left three years later with no degree. Munro remained unmarried; among his several illegitimate children was Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro (b. 1819), the classical scholar.

Munro was one of the most important patrons of J. M. W. Turner, as well as being the painter's close friend and (in 1836) traveling companion. He commissioned Turner's paintings Venice from the Porch of Madonna della Salute (1837) and The Lake of Zug (1843), neither of which pleased him. He gave The Lake of Zug to John Ruskin, his rival as a collector of Turner, who records, "Mr. Munro thought the Zug too blue and let me have it." On another occasion, Munro traded Fluelen: Morning Looking Towards the Lake (1845), another watercolor Swiss subject he had commissioned, for Storm in the St. Gotthard Pass: The First Bridge Above Altdorf (1845), which Ruskin had commissioned but disliked. Turner appointed him one of his executors in 1849. Curiously, a very distant kinsman of Munro's, Dr. Thomas Monro , had been one of the earliest supporters of the young Turner and, according to Ruskin, had exercised a significant influence on his art.

Munro also collected works by the Old Masters and by other contemporary British artists such as Richard Parkes Bonington, John Constable, and Sir David Wilkie, amassing a collection of some 2,500 works by the time of his death. Auctions of the collection were held at Christie's between 1860 and 1878.«/i»

(Wikipedia - "Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar" - 16 Jan 2011)
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References:

(1) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 536-538

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Family/Spouse: Penelope Forbes. Penelope was born est 1799; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Henry was educated at Eton and Christchurch, Oxford. In 1864, he succeeded to the disentailed portions of the Novar estates, on the death of his uncle, Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar. He also inherited from his uncle, his famous collection of art which sold at fabulous prices.

In 1874, he assumed the name of Munro in addition to his own and that of Johnstone, which he had previously assumed on his succession to the estates of his uncle, General Johnstone of Corehead and Auchen Castle.

He served as a Member of Parialment for Canterbury for several years, having been elected twice from that city. In 1878, he resigned his seat and became the manager of the Great Mammoth Gold Mine in Utah. He worked with much force and energy at this position, but was ultimately obliged to give it up for want of the necessary funds to carry it on.

He had a very strong sympathy with the Turks in their war with Russia and made large donations to the Porte for the purchase of arms and ammunition, but the splendid resistance of the Turks aat Plevna and elsewhere proved of no avail. Henry thought he would never be repaid, but when Mr. Bourke, the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, consented to go to Constantinople to plead the case of the British bondholders, he took advantage of that opportunity to urge the special nature of Mr. Johnstone's claim, and the Porte directed that it should be discharged in full, a total of about 200,000 pounds plus 30,000 pounds in interest.

In 1882, Henry sold his portion of the Novar estates to Mr. Ronald Crawford Munro Ferguson for 112,000 pounds.

References:

(1) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 536-538

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Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Henry married Maria Irma, Comtesse De Sovers on 17 Nov 1877. Maria was born about 1839; died in 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

References:

(1) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 537
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Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Notes:

Isabella died young.

References:

(1) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 537

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA

Birth:
Estimate: This birth date is an estimate based on the birth dates of nearest relatives or contemporaries, or based on other clues such as christening date, marriage date, birth order, etc.

Notes:

Hugh received his early education in Elgin. He was later sent by his father to Shrewsbury, where he became one of the most distinguished pupils of Professor Kennedy, and later became Professor of Greek at Cambridge.

His University career was a series of brilliant successes. In 1842 he received his degree with honors, being second in the classical tripos. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, and was for some years Professor of Latin in the University of Cambridge.
He is universally admitted to have been the best Latin scholar of his day in Britain. He was also recognised as such on the Continent after his edition of Lucretius, which secured for him a European reputation. He was also widely known for his Elucidations of Catullus.

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«i»Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro (29 October 1819 - 30 March 1885) was a British classical scholar.

Munro was born at Elgin, Moray , Scotland, the illegitimate son of Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar by Penelope Forbes, and educated at Shrewsbury School, where he was one of Benjamin Hall Kennedy 's first pupils. He went on to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1838, becoming a scholar in 1840, second classic and first chancellor's medallist in 1842, and fellow of his college in 1843. He became classical lecturer at Trinity College, and in 1869 was elected to the newly-founded chair of Latin at Cambridge, but resigned it in 1872.

The great work on which his reputation rests is his edition of Lucretius, the fruit of many years' efforts (text only, 1 vol., 1860; text, commentary and translation, 2 vols, 1864). As a textual critic his knowledge was profound and his judgment unrivalled; and he studied archaeology , being a frequent traveller in Italy and Greece. In 1867 he published an improved text of Aetna with commentary, and in the following year a text of Horace with critical introduction, illustrated by specimens of ancient gems selected by Charles William King. His knowledge and taste are nowhere better shown than in his Criticisms and Elucidations of Catullus (1878). He was a master of the art of Greek and Latin verse composition. His contributions to the famous volume of Shrewsbury verse, Sabrinae corolla, are among the most remarkable of the collection.

His Translations into Latin and Greek Verse were privately printed in 1884. Like his translations into English, these are characterized by minute fidelity to the original, but never cease to be idiomatic. He died while visiting Rome.

A Memoir by J. D. Duff was prefixed to a re-issue of the translation of Lucretius in "Bohn's Classical Library" (1908).«/i»

(Wikipedia - "Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro" - 16 Jan 2011)
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References:

(1) "History of the Munros of Fowlis" by A. Mackenzie - Inverness (1898) - p. 538

Compiled and edited by Allen Alger, Genealogist, Clan Munro Association, USA