Munro was born in
Inveraray, the illegitimate son of Ann Munro, a kitchen maid. His death certificate gives his father's name as James Thompson Munro. He was brought up by his maternal grandparents and an aunt. He attended Glencaddie Primary School and Church Square Public School, leaving at 14. For five years he worked in the office of the Sheriff Clerk of Argyll, a fairly prestigious post that has led to speculation that he may have had undisclosed family connections. He then moved to
Glasgow and worked briefly in the cashier's office in an ironmonger's shop in the
Trongate before working as a journalist on the
Greenock Advertiser, the
Glasgow News, the
Falkirk Herald and the
Glasgow Evening News. He semi-retired from journalism in 1902 to concentrate on other writing. His play
Macpherson, deploying his popular comic character, Erchie MacPherson, was staged by the
Glasgow Repertory Theatre in 1909, and was well received. In 1914 he returned to journalism, becoming editor of the
Glasgow Evening News in 1918. He died in
Craigendoran,
Helensburgh, on 22 December 1930 at age 67. A private funeral was held in Inveraray and a memorial service held at
Glasgow Cathedral. John Buchan subsequently edited
The Poetry of Neil Munro, published in 1931. Obituaries for Munro commonly described him as the successor of
Robert Louis Stevenson, and at his memorial service in
Glasgow Cathedral the critic
Lauchlan MacLean Watt described Munro as "the greatest Scottish novelist since
Sir Walter Scott". After his death his serious novels faded from view, with the partial exception of
The New Road, and he came to be remembered primarily as the creator of Para Handy. This change in Munro's reputation was accelerated by
Hugh MacDiarmid, who became a detractor of Munro's style. There was a minor revival of interest in him around the turn of the 21st century, including the publication of annotated versions of the Para Handy stories with some stories not previously published in book form. ==References==