The Fascinating Adventures of Bennet Burleigh!

Bennet Burley (or Burleigh) was the eldest son of Robert Burley and Christina Seath and he was quite a character!  

Born in 1840, he was educated in Glasgow and began work in his father's joinery business.  On 22 March 1861 aged 20 he married Marion Thomson (just 18), the daughter of John Thomson (house factor) and Marion Scott at 21 Drygate Lane, Glasgow.  The couple had a daughter Marion Scott Burley who had been born at Drygate Lane on 22 February 1861.  However, domestic life was not for Bennet Burley and he was soon off to North America.

According to the book Famous  War Correspondents by F Lauriston Bullard (Boston, Little, Brown & Company, 1914), in the chapter about Bennet Burley -

"In the early part of the war between the States, there appeared one day at Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy, a young Scotchman in whose pockets were the plans for a submarine battery and the sketches for a torpedo boat."  

So it would appear that Bennet made use of his father's inventions.  He joined the Confederates and engaged in privateering with John Yates Beall.  He caught malaria and while he was recuperating began to write for The Southern Illustrated News.  On his recovery he took part in a raid behind enemy lines where he was wounded, captured and charged with being a spy.  He was held in Fort Delaware where he managed to escape via a sewer.  He fled to Canada where he and Beall planned a daring mission to free Confederate prisoners at Johnson's Island Prison on Lake Erie.  The mission failed and the two men went on the run, this time charged with piracy!  Beall was eventually captured and executed at Governor's Island in New York Bay.  A bounty was placed on Bennet's head.  He was extradited from Canada and imprisoned at Detroit then later at Clinton, Ohio.  At this point his father, Robert Burley was in correspondence with the British government trying to get his son freed, but to no avail.  

Bennet seems to have been a bit of a local celebrity and his imprisonment does not seem to have been too harsh and, once again he managed to escape to Canada and fortunately the war ended.  At this time he changed the spelling of his name to Burleigh.

He continued to pursue a career in journalism and wrote for the Houston Telegraph in Texas then moved to New York.  He returned to Britain in 1878 unsuccessfully standing for Parliament for Govan, Glasgow.  A street in Govan is named after him - Burleigh Street.

He then began his career as a war correspondent, travelling all over the world.  He was signed up by the Daily Telegraph in 1882 and worked for them until he retired in 1913.  He reported from Egypt and the Sudan, always with the front line troops in the thick of the action.  He was involved in the Boer War and in 1912 was reporting from the Balkans.  He retired in 1913 and died just a few months later on 17 June 1914 at Bexhill in Sussex and was buried at Brookwood Cemetery.

Marion Thomson Burley, his first wife died in 1884 in the City Poorhouse in Glasgow.  Their daughter Marion Scott Burley had married a brassfounder a few years earlier in Glasgow and had a family.

However he also seems to have married while in New York a young Yorkshire woman named Marion Sherer with whom he had at least one child, a son Sherer Burleigh born in 1876 who managed a wood mill in Dermott, Arkansas, for Robert Burley of Glasgow.  (At some point, Bennet had introduced American hickory wood to his father who set up mills at Rock Creek, Ohio and Dermott, Arkansas.)

Bennet Burleigh was also married to Bertha Preuss and had several children.  Their daughter Bertha Burleigh was a war correspondent during the First World War and seems to have inherited her father's sense of adventure and daring-do.  She was also a photographer and illustrator.  Three of Bennet's sons, Robert Burleigh, Bennet Burleigh Jnr and James Emil, died on active service in the War.

Bennet Burleigh was certainly a remarkable man and ranks with his cousins Sir Richard Muir and Robert Livingston Muir as fascinating and well-travelled men of their time.

Muir of Newfoundland

Adjacent to the grave marker of the family of Richard and Ann (Burley or Burleigh) Muir in Greenock Cemetery, is that of Richard's brother Robert Muir and his family.  The gravestone sadly notes that it is "In memory of Robert Muir and Mary Livingston his spouse, who died within 14 days of each other."

Robert Muir (1784 - 1854) and his wife Mary Livingston (1786 - 1854) lived at Muir's Land in Lynedoch Street, Greenock.  A look at the map dated 1842 from the National Library of Scotland site shows Muirs's house to be on the south-west side of Lynedoch Street.  Like his brother, Robert ran a successful shoe and bootmaking business, this was continued by his son William.  

However it is the younger son, Robert Livingston Muir who travelled to Newfoundland.  Born in 1826, Robert seems to have forsaken the shoemaking business and became an apprentice to Cowan & Lawrie, drapers in Greenock.  He was lured overseas like many of his fellow Greenockians to St John's, Newfoundland.  Here he joined Edwin Duder (son of Thomas Duder and Ann Congdon) to form the company of Muir & Duder, merchants and ship owners in St John's.  He married Emily Duder in Greenock on 14 July 1847 and had several children born in Newfoundland.  Unfortunately Emily died aged just 29 in 1856 and is buried at St Marychurch, Torquay, Devon (Kingskerswell would appear to be where the Duder family originated).

The firm was successful and Muir made annual business visits to Greenock and Glasgow and obviously kept in touch with the large Muir family here in Greenock.  In June 1865, Robert Livingston Muir died, aged just 41, as the result of injuries received in a dreadful accident in Newfoundland.  According to his obituary in the Greenock Telegraph -

     "It appears that Mr Muir had been returning from business to his house in the country in a carriage  and while going down a steep hill the horse took fright and became unmanageable.  On nearing      an embankment he thought the animal was making to go over it, when he leapt from the machine.   In doing so he unfortunately broke his leg above the ankle.  He was carried into a house close by, and a friend of his - Mr Grieve, son of Provost Grieve of Greenock - driving up shortly after, got him laid in his machine on the top of a mattress and conveyed home, where medical assistance was called in; but owing to the serious nature of the injuries, he died after lingering for a few days."

A posthumus daughter, Roberta Livingston Muir (1866 - 1944) was born to Muir's second wife, Sarah Peele, daughter of George Peele of London.  They had married on 16 April 1860 at Southwark, London.  Sarah Muir (1834 - 1919) lived to the ripe old age of 85 and is buried at Monkton Combe, Bath.

The gravestones of Greenock Cemetery tell the stories of some remarkable and well travelled Greenockians.  Robert Livingston Muir's cousin was the noted  barrister Sir Richard Muir.  The Greenock born poet, Margaret Peace also lived in Newfoundland for a while.

The grave markers read -

In memory of Robert Muir and Mary Livingston his spouse who died within 1 day of each other the latter 19 March 1854 aged 70 years and the former 1st April 1854 aged 68 years.

Also their daughter Janet McLeod who died 15^th June 1869 aged 59 years and Johnina daughter of the above Janet McLeod who died 26 December 1865 aged 17 years.

Robert Mackenzie son in law of the above Robert Muir who died 5^th Nov 1879 and Elizabeth Muir or Mackenzie his wife born 16 Oct 1816 died 1^st April 1895.

To the memory of Emma Duder the beloved wife of Robert L Muir of St John's Newfoundland who died 19 July 1856 at St Mary-Church near Torquay, Devon in the 29^th year of her age.

Also their daughter Emma who died at St John's Newfoundland January 1856 aged 11 months.

Also the above Robert Livingston Muir who died at St John's Newfoundland 6^th June 1865 aged 41 years also their son Edwin Duder died 7 July 1870 aged 22 years.

The Greenockian who prosecuted Crippen

The Greenockian's name was Richard David Muir and he commenced his cross-examination of Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen with the question -

"On the morning of February 1 you were left alone in your house with your wife?"

Dr Crippen

"Yes" replied Crippen in response.

"She was alive?"

"She was."

"Do you know of any person in the world who has seen her alive since?"

One can just imagine these intense moments as the murderer and prosecutor faced each other across the Central Criminal Court in October 1910.  It is reported that when Crippen heard that Richard Muir would be prosecuting he said, 

     "It is most unfortunate that he is against me.  I wish it had been anybody else but him.  I fear the worst."  

Crippen was accused of the murder of his wife, Cora (stage name Belle Elmore) and fled aboard SS Montrose with his mistress Ethel Le Neve dressed as a boy.  The couple were apprehended when the ship arrived in Canada and brought back to Britain.  Crippen, aged 48, was found guilty of the murder of his wife and was executed at Pentonville Prison on 23 November 1910.  Crippen's crime and the ensuing trial have gone down in history - there can't be many who do have not heard of Dr Crippen.  (You can read all the fascinating details of the case at the Old Bailey Online.) 
Perhaps not so much is known of his prosecutor, Richard Muir.

Sir Richard Muir (knighted in 1918) took part in many of the most sensational trials of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries.  He was in great demand for his cool, methodical approach to his work.  Possessed of a good memory, he was a logical thinker and thorough in his attention to facts and details, a trait he expected in others, especially police officers working on his cases.  As this excerpt from his notes in the Crippen case shows, he set everything out in a clear precise manner.  He kept his notes on small cards and used coloured pencils for different aspects of his cases.

A lot of information about Muir's legal cases can be found in the book - Sir Richard Muir - A Memoir of a Public Prosecutor written by Sidney Theodore Felstead and edited by Lady Muir.  (London, John Lane the Bodley Head Limited, 1927).  It is a fascinating read and readily available to purchase online.

Muir was born in Greenock on 8 March 1859 to Richard Muir, a master shoemaker in the town and his wife Ann Burley (or Burleigh) who had married in Greenock in July 1839.  His father ran a successful business and by 1851 was employing sixteen men.  At that time the family lived in Kelly Street.  Richard was the third son, and eighth child - more children were to follow.  Richard Muir senior's business flourished and he began to invest in shipping.  By 1861 the family had moved to Clyde Street or Low Gourock Road (Eldon Street before the Esplanade was constructed).  By the time of the 1881 census they were living at Oakbank on Union Street.

At this time Richard Muir was working as a commission clerk locally and was active in the Greenock Royal Rifle Volunteers, but he soon decided to join his elder brother Robert Burleigh Muir (a solicitor) in London.  Through extreme hard work he qualified as a lawyer and began his apprenticeship in the chambers of Sir Forest Fulton in Fountain Court.  He also began to learn shorthand at Pitman's school in Chancery Lane.  He soon earned a reputation as a first class verbatim reporter, specialising in parliamentary speeches.  He joined the reporting staff of The Times newspaper under William Leycester (1826 - 1893).  He ably juggled the two jobs and hardly surprisingly, seems to have had few outside interests.

He began to concentrate on legal work, taking over the Fountain Court chambers and began to make a name for himself as a thorough and dependable man.  He married Mary Beatrice Leycester (photo from National Portrait Gallery) in 1889 and they had two children, a son and a daughter.  His son, Burleigh Leycester Muir, also a barrister, was a Captain in the Army Service Corps during World War I and died on 4 November 1918 of influenza.  He left a widow, Vera Brodie MacQueen whom he had married in 1915 and a young son.  Muir's daughter, Mary Leycester Muir married Lieutenant Robert William Godfrey Kiesow of the Lancashire Fusiliers.

Sir Richard Muir died in 1924 and is buried at Norwood Cemetery in London.  However his name is included on the family headstone in Greenock Cemetery along with many of the other members of this large family.

The fraudster Whitaker Wright, the murderes Ronald True and Frederick Henry Seddon, German spies, the Hatton Garden Pearl Robbery and many, many other sensational trials made up the casebook of Sir Richard Muir - a truly remarkable man … from Greenock.