Hugh Andrew Johnstone-Munro, 10th Laird of Novar

HUGH, on his father's death in 1810, 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.

He was shy and, though a Tory, devoted himself more to art than to politics at a time when the Highland Clearances ("eviction of the Gaels") was the evictions of a significant number of tenants in the Scottish Highlands, mostly in the period 1750 to 1860.

HUGH MUNRO evicted tenants from his estate of Culrain, a small village in Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. The initial evictions were entrusted to three men: James Stewart who was a sheriff-officer along with William Munro and Andrew Tallach from the nearby township of Morangie. At the point of eviction in Culrain on 1 February 1820, Stewart was confronted by a crowd of 150 women who demanded that he hand over his papers, which he refused, but they took them off him anyway and they included 57 "notices of removal". When William Munro and Andrew Tallach appeared they were both forcibly detained by the women who were armed with "sticks and batons" according to Stewart. One of the women was punched by William Munro and fell on her back. William Munro then ran off being pelted with stones and Stewart and Andrew Tallach were then driven out of Culrain by the mob in a "mock triumph".

HUGH MUNRO later arranged for a larger group of militiamen which amounted to 100 strong and included armed ex-soldiers to enforce the removals. This group was also pelted with hand-size stones by the women on 2 March 1820 and failed to complete its objective.

HUGH later came to an agreement in which while Culrain would still be turned into a sheep farm, his tenants would not be evicted. However, this arrangement did not endure indefinitely and later in 1820 he cleared 500-600 people from his estate in Culrain to make way for sheep.

HUGH MUNRO remained unmarried. Among his several illegitimate children was Hugh Andrew Johnstone-Munro, MA, LLD (b. 1819) the classical scholar.

HUGH 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) travelling companion. He himself was a gifted amateur artist in the style of Greuze and exhibited in London.

HUGH occupied a great part of his own time in painting, and 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”, and which on certain days of the week was thrown open to the public.

HUGH MUNRO also collected works by the Old Masters such as Raphael and Watteau, and by other contemporary British artists such as Richard Parkes Bonington, John Constable, William Etty and Sir David Wilkie, amassing a collection of some 2,500 works by the time of his death.

HUGH MUNRO displayed these in his houses in Mayfair, London, as well as at Novar. Auctions of the collection were held at Christie’s between 1860 and 1878. His personal property had passed to his sister and his real estate to his cousins, the Fergusons of Raith, who still own the estates.

HUGH MUNRO died suddenly in 1864 at Novar, without leaving a will. His papers, though carefully kept by him, have not been preserved.

Having “lived a sensuous life”, when HUGH MUNRO died the disentailed estates passed to his nephew, Henry Alexander BUTLER-JOHNSTONE-MUNRO, son of his sister Isabella Margaret, who also succeeded to all his personal property, including his valuable gallery of pictures, which was afterwards sold at fabulous prices, while the entailed portion of the estates went in terms of the entail of 1798, to his cousin, Lieutenant Colonel Robert MUNRO-FERGUSON, the 11th Laird of Novar and eldest son of Jane, the natural daughter of General Sir Hector MUNRO.

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

"Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (13 February 1797 - 22 November 1864) was a Scottish art collector.

Life

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. An elder brother was mentally unsound. 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.

He was shy and, though a Tory, devoted himself more to art than to politics at a time when the Highland Clearances were a live issue. Nevertheless, in 1820, he cleared 500-600 people from his estate in Culrain to make way for sheep.

He died suddenly at Novar without leaving a will. His papers, though carefully kept by him, have not been preserved.

Art collection and patronage

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 himself was a gifted amateur artist in the style of Greuze and exhibited in London. 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, such as Raphael and Watteau, and by other contemporary British artists such as Richard Parkes Bonington, John Constable, William Etty, and Sir David Wilkie, amassing a collection of some 2,500 works by the time of his death. He displayed these in his houses in Mayfair, London, as well as at Novar. Auctions of the collection were held at Christie's between 1860 and 1878. His personal property had passed to his sister (Mrs Butler-Johnstone), and his real estate to his cousins, the Fergusons of Raith, who still own that."

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 26 January 2013, 18:19 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hugh_Andrew_Johnstone_Mun...> [accessed 7 May 2013]

Other References

• History of the Munros of Fowlis: with genealogies of the principal families of the name to which are added those of Lexington and New England; Alexander Mackenzie; 1898; page 538