Memorial to Thomas Muir wrongly describes him as a ‘barrister’

Thomas Muir of Hunters Hill by David Martin, 1790, chalk drawing from life, National Portrait Gallery of Scotland

Thomas Muir of Huntershill, who was admitted to Faculty in 1787, at the age of 22, was persecuted before being banished in 1793 for his attempts at democratic reform.

A mural paying tribute to him was unveiled in his native Glasgow this month. The painting, in the Trongate area, features a plaque that reads: “Thomas Muir, Scottish barrister and reformer.”

Thomas Ross QC said: “A little surprising that having gone to all that trouble they chose to describe him as a ‘Scottish barrister’.”

Muir founded the Scottish Association of the Friends of the People in 1792 in the hopes of establishing a Scottish republic and called on the French revolutionaries to invade Scotland.

He was restored to the roll of advocates in 2020, 227 years after having being struck off after he was indicted on a charge of sedition. The campaign to have his name restored was led by Ross Macfarlane QC, who had discovered an old order from the Court of Session that quashed a decree declaring him to be a fugitive.

It had been issued because he failed to attend a case against him. He was, however, in France and had no means of getting home. He was found guilty and sent to Australia in 1793 but escaped and made it to Canada and thence to California. While being returned to Europe, he suffered a wound in a gun battle between a Spanish ship and the blockading British fleet off Cadiz.

He made it to France where he was treated as a hero and died in Chantilly in 1799, aged 33.

The mural, painted by street artist Bobby McNamara, bears the quotation: “I have dedicated myself to the cause of the people. It is a good cause. It shall ultimately prevail.”