Thomas Muir - new evidence unearthed
New Court of Session papers, missing for more than 200 years, have been unearthed by the Faculty of Advocates and Professor Gerard Carruthers, University of Glasgow. The newly found papers shine light on Thomas Muir and how he courted controversy in his early years, which may have contributed to his treatment by the justice system in later life. Professor Gerard Carruthers Professor Gerard Carruthers, commenting on the finding of the lost papers said: "I just think people had just been looking in the wrong place. They had perhaps been looking under Thomas Muir rather than looking under the Campbell papers or the Dreghorn papers. "I think partly the reason why these papers were overlooked was because they didn't deal with the 1790s trial where Muir is sentenced to 14 years in Botany Bay. Thomas Muir "These papers dealt with an earlier period when he is involved in local kirk politics. But the real significance of these papers is they show that he was a well kent face, and the same people who are sitting in judgement on him in Edinburgh in 1793 just a few years earlier were aware of Thomas Muir making trouble as a representative of his local church." The papers detail a well-known chapter in Muir's early life while representing Cadder Kirk, when he challenged local and powerful land owners, contesting their right to choose a church minister.
