Press Release.........Press Release.........Press Release.........Press Release.........
Scottish Parliament & Edinburgh
City Council to celebrate Scottish
Democracy hero
1. Scottish Parliament Reception
Has been organised for the 23rd of September to celebrate Thomas Muir – known as the
‘Father of Scottish Democracy’.
Muir suffered persecution and was banished for advocating democratic principles in Scotland.
His crime was to advocate universal voting rights and parliamentary reform.
Speakers to include Fiona McLeod MSP, Professor Gerard Caruthers of the University of
Glasgow, with entertainment provided by pupils from the Music School of Douglas Academy
and Bishopbriggs Academy performing their new play short play.
2. Democracy 250 Walk & Civic Reception
Has been organised for the 3 October 2015. Milngavie Pipe Band will lead the procession
leaving from The Political Martyrs’ Memorial (Old Calton Burying Ground) and walking via
North Bridge and Canongate to the Scottish Parliament.
The Friends of Thomas Muir, with the support of Fiona McLeod MSP, East Dunbartonshire
Council and Edinburgh City Council, are organising a walk from Calton Hill to the Scottish
Parliament.
The Friends of Thomas Muir intend to continue a tradition established by our ancestors by
continuing the walk that they started in 1844 from the Memorial to the Scottish Political
Martyrs to the modern seat of democracy in Scotland.
The unveiling of the Monument in Old Calton Burying Ground took place on 21 August 1844,
in front of more than three thousand people. 400 members of the Complete Suffrage
Association provided a dramatic introduction to the ceremony by marching four abreast
through Parliament Square, passing the Law Courts where the five martyrs had been
sentenced, then down the High Street and over the North and Regent bridges to the burial
ground.
This year the march will resume with a dedication service at the Martyrs’ Monument, followed
by a formal walk through the streets of Edinburgh via North Bridge and the Royal Mile to the
Scottish Parliament, led by Milngavie Pipe Band and arriving at the Scottish Parliament by
about 11.15am.
The Lord Provost and Council Of The City Of Edinburgh are to host a civic reception following
the walk.
Jimmy Watson, the event’s organiser says, ‘All are welcome to join us on this historic
walk… it’s taken over a year and a half of planning. EEC wasn’t keen at first to have road
delays or closures, but when we met and explained the historic nature of this event, they were
more than happy to assist. It will be a very rare and special opportunity to walk through the
street so of Edinburgh, led by the Milngavie Pipe Band. ‘Celebrating history by making
history’’
Fiona McLeod MSP, “I am looking forward to welcoming the marchers at the Scottish
Parliament. This is such a significant anniversary not just for Scotland and my constituency
but one that has international resonance. The organisers of the march and the year of
commemoration are to be congratulated for all their hard work”
Other events organised for this 250th anniversary year include:

Chance to see ‘The Trials of Thomas Muir’ - a dramatic new portrait painting by Ken
Currie - at the Auld Kirk Museum from 10 to 31 October.

3 October, ‘Democracy 250 Walk’ from the Political Martyrs’ Monument in Calton
Burying Ground to the Scottish Parliament via Central Edinburgh, led by Milngavie
Pipe Band.

‘Thomas Muir Academic Symposium’, at the University of Glasgow on the 30 October.

Concert in Glasgow University Chapel, on 20 November, featuring Dick Gaughan,
Rallion and the Kirkintilloch Male Voice Choir.

East Dunbartonshire Schools Art Competition with a Thomas Muir theme. An exhibition
of finalists will be held at the Thomas Muir Coffee Shop in November. Winning portrait
to be gifted to the Scottish Parliament. Ken Currie on the judging panel.
For more information visit www.thomasmuir.co.uk or find the festival on Facebook and
Twitter.
Ends
(624 words)
Contact: Jimmy Watson 07980 767666
email: jimmy@thomasmuir.co.uk.
Date: 21 September 2015
Notes to editors:

Muir was born on 24 August 1765 and his passionate campaigning was instrumental in
sowing the seeds that brought about the jury reform and the universal right to vote. It
also inspired the formation of a whole raft of reform societies which helped shape
Scotland.

A bust of Thomas Muir sits in the permanent exhibition at Bishopbriggs Library and the
Thomas Muir Cairn stands at the top of Crowhill Road opposite Huntershill House.
Further afield, he’s celebrated in the Museum of Australian Democracy and is a citizen
of France.

There is a 90-foot monument to Muir and the Scottish Political Martyrs at Caltonhill,
Edinburgh, and a 34-foot monument at Nunhead Cemetery, London.
Info on Thomas Muir:
The culture of Scotland has long been recognised as one of compassionate democracy but, astonishingly, many
people may not even have heard of the man we have to thank for our proud heritage.
Thomas Muir was born in Glasgow in 1765 and his passionate campaigning for freedom of speech and
democracy was instrumental in sowing the ideal ology that brought about the jury system reform, the universal
right to vote and a whole raft of reform societies which have shaped our nation today.
The man who inspired Robert Burns to write ‘Scots Wha Hae’ was an international pioneer of democracy, a
bright young advocate fired with idealism by French revolutionary activities in 1792.
The Government, and the then Home secretary Henry Dundas, did everything in their power to stem
revolutionary unrest in Britain, but Muir and other brave people from the various countries that make up the
United Kingdom were determined to put an end to the iniquitous and unjust society foisted upon the people.
Muir encouraged parliamentary reform societies set up in what is now known as East Dunbartonshire, then
throughout Scotland, to co-ordinate and liaise with each other at home and abroad through a ‘Convention of
the Delegates of the Scottish Friends of the People’ staged in Edinburgh during December 1792.
This undoubtedly played no small part in his arrest in August 1793 for the crime of creating “disaffection by
means of libel and seditious speeches”, along with four compatriots who became known as the “Scottish
Political Martyrs” - Thomas Fyshe Palmer, William Skirving, Maurice Margarot and Joseph Gerrald.
Widely regarded as the most important and influential of the martyrs, the quality and passion of the speech he
delivered at his trial remains an inspiration to reformers and political figures even today.
Despite being largely ignored by tourist bodies Muir’s legacy lives on internationally, and researchers have
come to Scotland from as far afield as Australia and Japan to investigate his life and work.
Thomas Muir may not have enjoyed any real sense of practical changes during his short life, but his bravery
paved the way for parliamentary and electoral reforms which took place in the years following his death.