Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Monro, George
MONRO or MUNRO, Sir GEORGE (d. 1693), of Culrain and Newmore, royalist general, was the third son of Colonel John Monro of Obisdale, by Catherine, daughter of John Gordon of Embo. He served in the wars of Gustavus Adolphus under his uncle, Robert Monro of Foulis (d. 1633) [q. v.], styled the 'Black Baron,' and was present at the battle of Liitzen, 16 Nov. 1632. Afterwards he held a command in Ireland under his uncle Colonel Robert Munro (d. 1680?) [q. v.], who on 21 Jan. 1644-5 sent him to represent the grievances of the Scottish army in Ireland to both houses of parliament {Hist. MSS. Comm. 6th Rep. p. 48), and on 28 Jan. he received a commission to command the troops sent to reinforce the Scottish army there (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1644-5, p. 277). When Robert Munro was defeated by Owen Roe O'Neill at Benburb on 5 June 1646, George Monro, who, with the rank of colonel, was in command of three troops of horse and 240 musqueteers, occupied an isolated position in dangerous proximity to the enemy, but after the battle with 'his party miraculously retreated home from the enemy' 'without the loss of a man' (Rushworth, Historical Collections, pt. iv. vol. i. p. 400). In 1648 the Scottish parliament recalled Monro from Ireland to join the expedition into England under Hamilton for the relief of the king (Guthry, Memoirs, p. 260). He left Ireland in opposition to the orders of Monck (Thurloe State Papers, ii. 427), with a contingent of two hundred foot and one thousand horse. Hamilton had begun his march before his arrival, but he followed hard after him (Guthry, p. 279). He was not, however, suffered to come up with Hamilton, being kept behind to bring up the Scottish cannon (ib. p. 283). Consequently he was about thirty miles in the rear at the time of the battle of Preston, and when Sir Thomas Tildesley (who was then besieging Lancaster) heard of the disaster, he, with his own forces and others he had collected from the rout at Preston, retired north to Monro, and asked him to put his forces under his command and follow Cromwell in the rear as he harassed the Scots ' (Clarendon, History of the Rebellion, iii. 242). This, however, Monro declined to do, and after lingering for some time in Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Northumberland, he also declined an offer of the northern royalists to assist him in maintaining the cause of the king in Scotland, and resolved to march thither and await further orders (ib. p. 243). In Scotland he was joined by the Earl of Lanark [see Hamilton, William, second Duke of Hamilton], whom he acknowledged as general (Guthry, p. 208). On 11 Sept. he appeared before Edinburgh, but finding it occupied by the whigamores, who pointed the cannon of the castle against him, he marched westwards with the view of cutting off Argyll at Stirling. According to a letter from the headquarters of Cromwell, he seized the bridge of Stirling while in treaty with Argyll (Rushworth, pt. iv. vol. ii. p. 1276). Taking up his position at Stirling, he endeavoured to make it a rendezvous for reinforcements, but not succeeding in this, he finally agreed, before 1 Oct., to the articles (ib. pp. 1288-9) providing for the disbandment of his forces, on condition that he should not be challenged for being accessory to the 'Engagement.' After the disbandment he came to Edinburgh, but a proclamation being made that all 'malignants' should depart the city, and not remain within six miles of it (ib. p. 1296), he took ship for Holland (Guthry, p. 296). Monro was included in the act passed by the Scottish estates on 17 May 1650 excluding divers persons i from beyond seas with his majesty from entering the kingdom until they had given satisfaction to church and state' (Balfour, iv. 14), and he was included in a similar act passed on 4 June (ib. p. 42). He, however, returned to Scotland after the arrival of Charles II, and on 22 Nov. 1650, in answer to a request to the 'king's majesty and estates' for a 'convenient time to transport himself out of the country,' the committee of estates gave him till 1 Jan. (ib. p. 169). When an attempt was made in 1654 to promote a rising on behalf of Charles in the highlands, Monro was appointed lieutenant-general under Middleton, but his unpopularity prevented many of the clans from joining it (Clarendon State Papers, ii. 441). Its success was further endangered by a quarrel between him and the Earl of Glencairn, whom he challenged to a duel, but was defeated (ib. ii. 371; Baillie, iii. 255). This led to strained relations between him and Middleton, and in December he deserted him and came to terms with the government (Thurloe, iii. 42; Hist. MSS. Comm. llth Rep. pt. vi. p. 137).
After the Restoration Monro represented Ross-shire in parliament 1661–3, Sutherland 1669–74, and Ross-shire 1680–6 and 1689–1693. In August 1665 he was suspected of designs against the government and imprisoned (Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser. 1664-1665, p. 514). According to Wodrow, the only reason for his imprisonment was his bantering the Bishop of Ross for his ignorance of Latin (Analecta, iv. 4). When he received his liberty is uncertain. Lauder of Fountainhall mentions that in 1680 Monro, while in the streets of Edinburgh, had a vision of a man calling on him to tell the Duke of York to request his brother the king to extirpate papists {Hist. Observes, p. 11).
Monro was made a knight of the Bath by Charles II, but the date or place is not recorded. He subsequently supported the revolution, and, although old and infirm, was appointed by the convention in Edinburgh to the command of the militia raised to protect it against Dundee and the royalists. He died 11 Jan. 1693. By his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Frederick Hamilton and sister of Gustavus, first viscount Boyne, he left issue. The present Sir Hector Munro, eleventh baronet of Foulis, is a direct descendant. Sir George's elder brother, Sir Robert, third baronet (d. 1688), was grandfather of Robert Munro, sixth baronet [q. v.]
[Guthry's Memoirs; Robert Baillie's Letters and Journals (Bannatyne Club); Clarendon's History of the Rebellion; Rushworth's Historical Collections; Thurloe State Papers; Cal. State Papers, Dom. Ser.; Carlyle's Cromwell; Foster's Members of Scottish Parl.; Foster's Baronetage and Knightage.]