New information on the life of Thomas Muir discovered in Advocates Library

Regarded as the father of Scottish democracy, the Glasgow-born Muir was convicted of sedition in 1793 and was sent to Australia.

The papers cover Muir’s time representing his church, Cadder Kirk, against landowners over the right to appoint ministers – a serious political issue in late 18th century Scotland.

Professor Gerry Carruthers of the University of Glasgow, who is editing a new collection of essays on Muir said: “The real significance of these papers is they prove Muir was already a well-kent face in legal circles.

“The same people who sit in judgment of him in 1793 in Edinburgh had a few years earlier known him making trouble as a representative for his local kirk.

“Previous biographers thought these papers didn’t exist, but they were probably looking in the wrong place.

“I think to some extent what you see in the papers is Thomas Muir’s body of enemies growing - what you also see is some notable people in the legal profession and elsewhere wanting to protect him.

“Thomas Muir may well be the secular apostle of modern democracy, and there is good reason to say that, but he is a part of the Calvinist popular party who are at war with moderates - including most of the authorities at the University of Glasgow - over what they see as the soul of Scotland.

“This is why John Anderson, a professor at Glasgow, in a huff, writes into his will money for the foundation of a new institution, the Andersonian Institution, which eventually becomes the University of Strathclyde. It’s intended to become a hard-lined Calvinist place as the University of Glasgow has gone soft on its Protestantism.

“Muir was very much part of the Anderson crew.”

The radical was born in 1765 and dropped out of his divinity studies at Glasgow University at the age of 17 to begin studying law.

He associated himself with the radical wing of the Whigs after the outbreak of the French Revolution.

In 1793 he stood trial on charges of sedition for “exciting a spirit of disloyalty and disaffection” as he recommended Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man and for the distribution and reading of inflammatory texts.

He defended himself but was found guilty and was sent to Botany Bay. After escaping in 1796 he died in France in 1799 following a serious injury.

Angela Grahame QC, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, said: “The Advocates Library is a treasure trove of fascinating, historical documents. We are delighted that the vast amount of published information which we preserve has provided a telling contribution to this book and to a new insight into the man who holds such a prominent place in Scottish history and culture.”