Munro, SIR THOMAS

Munro, SIR THOMAS (1761-1827), son of a Glasgow merchant, was educated at the Glasgow grammar school and university, arrived as an officer in the H.E.I.C.S. at Madras in 1780 in time to serve in the operations against Hyder Ali in 1780-83, assisted in the reorganisation of Mysore, administered Canara, and introduced the ryotwari system of tenure, subsequently extended to most of Madras and Bombay. In 1807-15 he was in England, where he had great influence on Indian legislation. Having commanded in the second Mahratna war, he was in 1819 named governor of Madras. He died of cholera. See Lives by Gleig (1830), Arbuthnot (1889), and Bradshaw (1894).—Not to be confounded with him is SIR HECTOR MUNRO (1726-1805) of Novar in Cromartyshire, who served in the Low Countries, embarked for India in 1760, won the great battle of Buxar in Behar in 1764, and shared with Coote in the defeat of Hyder Ali. He returned to England in 1781, held military appointments at home, and spent his last years in improving his estate at Novar.