Murder of Alexander Montgomerie

Alexander Bartleymore, an Englishman, was a favourite servant of Lord Eglinton, and like many in the locality had dealings with contraband goods. Mungo, in the course of his duties, had come across Alexander Bartleymore on the seashore with a cart containing eighty gallons of rum, which he duly seized as contraband. However, the cart itself was not impounded, because it was the property of the earl. Bartleymore was held in the Irvine Tolbooth and only escaped deportation to the colonies through the influence of his master. He held a grudge from that day forward and was determined to get his revenge when the opportunity presented itself.[6]

Another crucial element in the story is that Mungo, in the course of duties, was crossing part of Lord Eglinton's estate on a road when a hare started up and ran through the dyke. He 'automatically' shot it with the gun he was carrying, and the earl happened to hear the gunshot. Being committed to the prevention of poaching and the preservation of game, the earl sent a servant to bring Mungo to talk with him. At his meeting with the earl, Mungo apologised for his behaviour, which he explained as having been due to the suddenness of the hare's appearance.[6]

A map of the lands of Montfode and Ardrossan in 1769 showing the details of the incident.

The small estate of Montfode was involved in the case of the murder of The 10th Earl of Eglinton by Mungo Campbell. John Brown, tide-officer or tide-waiter (a customs officer who boarded and inspected incoming ships) at Saltcoats, gave evidence that on the day of the earl's death, Tuesday 24 October 1769, he was on duty and walking with Mungo Campbell "They passed through the grounds of Montfodd, and thereafter crossed a burn, which is the march between the between Montfodd and the earl of Eglintoun's property, and went through lord Eglintoun's ground towards the sea."[8] Mungo had permission from Dr. Hunter to shoot on the lands of Montfode, as well as preserve game and prosecute poachers; however, he had no such permission from Lord Eglinton.[9] On this day they were hunting for woodcock in the glen of the Montfode Burn and after crossing the Montfode Burn they walked briefly through the Earl of Eglinton's property before reaching the beach.[10]

the outside facing side of the panel from the coach in which the 10th Earl travelled during the Mungo Campbell incident.

Travelling in his carriage on the way to Fairlie with four servants following him on horsesback, Lord Eglinton was told that two men, one with a gun, had been seen crossing his land. Bartleymore stated that Mungo Campbell was one of the two suspected poachers and the earl decided to investigate, leaving his carriage and proceeding down the beach on horseback. Upon catching up with Mungo, the earl demanded that he hand over the gun he was carrying, which he refused, saying that he would rather die. The earl then ordered his fowling-piece to be brought from the carriage, saying that he was as good a shot as Mungo. The earl continued to walk towards Mungo who retreated, walking backwards; however, he stumbled on a stone, fell on his back, and the earl moved quickly to grab his gun, at which point Mungo fired at Lord Eglinton,[11] who was mortally wounded in the bowels. Mungo threw his gun away and tried to wrest the earl's gun from his servant. However, he failed and was attacked by the earl's servants who, upon being asked to desist by Lord Eglinton, was tied up and taken to Irvine by cart, then to Ayr, later to Glasgow, and finally to Edinburgh. The mortally wounded Lord Eglinton reportedly said to Mungo that he would not have shot him.[12]

Lord Eglinton was carried to his carriage and taken to Eglinton Castle, where, despite the best available medical attention, he died ten hours later at about one o’clock on the following morning of Wednesday 25 October, having put his affairs in order[13] The preserved door panel contradicts the stated course of events by stating that the earl was instantly shot upon leaving his carriage.

A contemporary newspaper report first recorded the incident as actually being a duel over a woman in which the Earl had been worsted. Indeed, when in London (from 1760 to 1763 at the least), he stayed in Queen Street, Mayfair, and, according to Boswell, he kept a mistress, a Ms. or Mrs. Brown, who, in 1763, "had lived with him seven or eight years".[1]

Dying without an heir, the earl was succeeded by his brother, Archibald, who now became The 11th Earl of Eglinton. The carriage door, inscribed with the details of the tragedy, was retained by the Montgomerie family until the great sale of Eglinton Castle's contents in the 1920s.[18]

Susanna, Dowager Countess of Eglinton, his mother, never quite recovered from the sight of her dying son being carried into Eglinton Castle and wrote: I shall endeavour to bear my suffering with as little trouble to my fellow creatures as possible.[19] Millar records that after the murder, by Mungo Campbell, she retired from the position which she held in society.[20]

Lord Eglinton was engaged to Jean or Jane, a daughter of the Maxwell family of Pollok House in Eastwood parish near Glasgow, and had been a regular visitor in the months before his wedding. At the hour of his mortal wounding at Ardrossan, a servant at Pollock House was surprised to see Lord Eglinton walking up the stairs to the room reserved for his visits. The servant prepared a meal; however, the earl was nowhere to found and it was some time later that the awful news reached the Maxwell family.[21]

Wilson records that "This sad affair , which took place on the grounds between Saltcoats and Ardrossan, was long the topic of discourse in town and country, .."[22]

Susanna, Dowager Lady Eglinton, was further devastated by the attitude of many of the Montgomerie estate's tenants who had more sympathy for Mungo Campbell than for the earl, and saw his death as a punishment imposed by heaven, due to the misimprovements of his life and the still more irritating improvement of his estates, his changes of old customs, his interference with old tenants.[2][23] Mungo himself had been well liked in all the places that he had resided as an excise officer, namely Newmilns, Stewarton, Saltcoats and Irvine.[24]

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  The outflow of the Montfode Burn onto Ardrossan North Bay. Boundary between the estates of Montfode and Eglinton.
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  Ardrossan North Bay - The site of the murder of Lord Eglinton.
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  The area of North Bay in which Alexander Bartlyemore was caught smuggling by Mungo Campbell.
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  Plaque on the Ardrossan Heritage Trail commemorating Mungo Campbell.

The incident was written into a novel by John Galt, the well known story of fictitious Ayrshire village life, Annals of the Parish.[25]

In 1770, A Dialogue of the Dead : Betwixt Lord Eglinton and Mungo Campbell was published. This argues the rights of the common man over those of the aristocracy without coming to any form of reconciliation.[26]

John Service records a semi-fictional version in his book The Memorables of Robin Cummell.[27]