Thomas Muir of Huntershill
Thomas Muir, also known as Thomas Muir the Younger of Huntershill, was a Scottish political reformer and lawyer. Muir graduated from Edinburgh University and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1787, aged 22. Muir was a leader of the Society of the Friends of the People.
He is included in the Political Martyrs' Monument in Edinburgh.
In 1793 Muir was sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay Australia for sedition. Two years later in 1796, Muir escaped from Botany Bay on the American ship Otter. The Otter reached Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island in June 1796. From there Muir travelled to Mexico City, where he asked to be allowed to travel to California. On April 1797 Muir was imprisoned in Havana, Cuba and taken by Spanish ship Ninfa to Spain. On arrival at Cádiz, the Spanish ship became engaged in a battle with two Royal Navy warships that were blockading the harbour. Muir received a glancing blow to his face from shrapnel which smashed his left cheek and injured his eyes. The Spanish captain insisted that Muir was among the dead: and he was so badly disfigured that his would-be captors failed to identify him and he was sent ashore with the wounded. Now began a long and painful recovery, while the French and Spanish authorities, indulged in a bitter diplomatic wrangle over Muir's release. In September 1797, the Spanish Government released Muir an he made his way to France.
In November 1797, he arrived in Bordeaux, where he was hailed as a 'Hero of the French Republic.' Muir then traveled to Paris. Muir's confidant in 1798 was Dr Robert Watson and Muir learned of the United Scotsmen, which replaced the Friends of the People. In November 1798, Muir moved to the Île-de-France village of Chantilly. He died there on 25 January 1799. Shortly before his death, he said, "we have achieved a great duty in these critical times. After the destruction of so many years, we have been the first to revive the spirit of our country and give it a National Existence."
Early years
Thomas Muir was born above his father's grocers shop on the High Street of Glasgow. His father, James Muir, was the son of the 'bonnet laird' of Birdston in Milton of Campsie, he married Margaret Smith and they had two children Thomas and Janet. As a younger son James Muir had little prospect of inheriting his father's property. His family, however, had in Maidstone, Kent, relations who were prosperous hop-growers and it was towards this branch of trade that young James was persuaded to direct his energies. In this business venture he achieved considerable success and by the time of his marriage in 1764 he was firmly established as a hop-merchant in the High Street of Glasgow. Here, in the heart of the town's ancient University quarter, he settled with his wife, living in a little flat above his shop.By all accounts Muir senior was a man of some education, whose interest in commerce extended far beyond that of his fellow businessmen, for he has been credited with the authorship of a pamphlet on 'England's Foreign Trade'. In the 1780s he purchased the property of Huntershill House, together with adjoining lands. Of Muir's mother, Margaret Smith, nothing of a biographical nature has been recorded. However, it is known that both Muir's parents were orthodox Presbyterians, consequently young Thomas's early upbringing was very much within the confines of the rigid moral and social ethic of ‘Auld Licht’ Calvinism. Early accounts described him as 'a pious child of modest, reserved nature'.
Education
Muir's education began at the age of five when his father hired William Barclay, a local schoolmaster, as a private tutor. In 1775, at the early age of 10, he was admitted to the "gowned classes" of Glasgow University. After five sessions he matriculated and took up divinity: like his parents he supported the Auld Licht or popular party in Kirk politics.Graduation
In 1782, at the age of 17, Muir graduated with an M.A. Influenced by the teachings of John Millar, he abandoned his studies for the Church. At the beginning of the 1783–4 term he was accepted as a student in Millar's classes on Law and Government. His target was Scottish political conservatism in the form of the Faculty of Advocates and he recruited young Whig advocates imbued with a due reverence for the law. Muir joined students' clubs and societies in which the major topics of the day were debated.Expelled from university
In May 1784, a dispute occurred between Professor John Anderson and other members of the Faculty, including Principal William Leechman and Professors Richardson and Taylor. Senior students issued a pamphlet A Statement of Fact against Leechman and the Faculty. After Anderson had departed for London, disciplinary proceedings were launched. Muir, McIndoe, Humphries and ten others were named as ringleaders; a ban was enforced on their attendance at lectures awaiting the result of hearings. Muir and his fellow students requested legal representation, but this request was rejected. Muir gave notice of his voluntary self-expulsion from the university.At the beginning of the new academic year Muir, with the assistance of Millar, obtained a place at Edinburgh University under the Whig Professor of Law, John Wylde. Here he completed his studies and having passed his Bar examinations was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1787 at the age of 22.
Tribune of the people
An Elder of the Church of Scotland for his home parish of Cadder, Muir became embroiled at the beginning of 1790 in a dispute with the local landlords led by James Dunlop of Garnkirk, a rich owner. Muir acting on behalf of the elders challenged the attempt of the landlords or heritors to pack the selection committee for a new minister with "Parchment Barons". Upon the case being referred to the Synod at Glasgow, Muir was appointed as Counsel for the congregation and fought a protracted case on their behalf all the way to the General Assembly. In the event the case of the landlords was thrown out, and Muir and his party emerged victorious.Muir acquired a reputation as a man of principle. His outspoken conviction that many existing laws were biased against the poor, won him the respect of younger advocates who nicknamed him "the Chancellor". His views on law reform were, however, unacceptable to members of the High Court: Lord Braxfield and Robert Dundas.
Revolution in France
The French Revolution of 1789 revived the hopes of all members of the Whig party in Scotland and England, in their campaign for burgh and county reform. Foxite Whigs in Parliament and the Lords inaugurated in April 1792 the London Association of the Friends of the People. Led by the Scots Lords, Lauderdale and Buchan, this society enjoyed widespread initial support from leading Whigs throughout Britain.Since 1789, many clubs and societies had sprung up in the principal towns and villages of Scotland in support of the Revolution and its principles. In June 1792, the members of these societies and, in particular, those at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Perth, began a regular correspondence with the object of forming a Scottish counterpart to the London Association. By the end of June 1792, a plan of organisation, principally drawn up by Muir and William Skirving, a Fife farmer, was set in motion. In distinct contrast to the London Association, which was deliberately exclusive, Muir and his associates, taking into consideration the vital educational differential between the working people of Scotland and England, opted for a nationwide association of reform clubs unlimited to any social class. After some initial difficulties due to the entrenched opposition of Henry Erskine, the Dean of the Faculty and leading Scottish Whig, the Scottish Association of the Friends of the People was formed at Edinburgh on 26 July 1792. Supported by two new publications, the Edinburgh Gazeteer and the Caledonian Chronicle, plus James Tytler's Historical Register, the new movement rapidly expanded.
Muir travelled to meet with the leaders of the Friends of the People in London. Sharing their concern that the execution of Louis XVI would be a disaster for the reform movements in the British Isles, Muir agreed to go to France and join Tom Paine in his attempts to persuade the leaders of the revolution to spare the life of the King. Muir had talks with the Girondist leaders, but their influence was waning.
The Edinburgh Convention and the United Irish address
Muir returned to Scotland on 23 August 1792. At the beginning of October he helped form Glasgow Society of Friends of the People and undertook a propaganda tour of Stirlingshire, Dunbartonshire, and Renfrewshire from which emerged new societies in Kirkintilloch, Birdston, Lennoxtown, Campsie and Paisley. On 21 November, Muir, having been elected vice-president of the movement at the Edinburgh monthly meeting, called for a General Convention of the popular reform societies in Great Britain to be held there in December.On 8 December, as the first of the delegates were arriving in the capital, an Address of Fraternity from the United Irishmen arrived at Muir's lodgings in Carrubers Close. Drawn up by William Drennan, its appeal to the republican and independent spirit of the Scottish people were entirely to Muir's satisfaction. However, he appears to have unwisely circulated a copy of it among the delegates prior to the first sitting of the convention. Although "there was much in the address that was attractive to the delegates, many objected to the 'intemperate and dangerous nationalistic language".
As Muir rose in the first session Muir to present the Address he was vigorously opposed by a powerful unionist section among the delegates led by Col. William Dalrymple, Lord Daer and Richard Fowler. The Address contained "Treason or Misprison of Treason against the Union with England". Although the Address 'in its original form' was ultimately rejected, Muir was able to read it out and to declare: "We do not, we cannot, consider ourselves as mowed and melted down into another country. Have we not distinct Courts, Judges, Juries, Laws, etc.?".