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Duncan Munro

 

Robert Munro kindly provided photographs featuring his grandfather Duncan, who was the gravedigger at Marnoch Cemetery. He and his family lived in the mort-house in the south-east corner of the graveyard – built in 1822, originally to keep corpses safe from body-snatchers! – the last family to do so.
Robert recalls that his grandfather never spoke about the war as he was embarrassed at not having been on active service like all his pals, despite the fact that he had in fact volunteered to put his life in peril but was sworn to secrecy.
As an aside, Duncan Munro had a connection with a famous wartime incident in the North-east involving the ‘Beautiful Spy’. He was a brother-in-law of P C Bob Grieve, who in 1942 took part in the arrest of three German spies at Portgordon railway station and later was the star witness at their trial at the Old Bailey.
For details see:
http://rgu-sim.rgu.ac.uk/history/German%20Spies.htm
http://rgu-sim.rgu.ac.uk/history/spies.htm
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=43f3d0d2-5676-43f1-bf39-43801cf37431&log=y&decrypt=

Robert Munro kindly provided photographs featuring his grandfather Duncan, who was the gravedigger at Marnoch Cemetery. He and his family lived in the mort-house in the south-east corner of the graveyard – built in 1822, originally to keep corpses safe from body-snatchers! – the last family to do so.

Robert recalls that his grandfather never spoke about the war as he was embarrassed at not having been on active service like all his pals, despite the fact that he had in fact volunteered to put his life in peril but was sworn to secrecy.

As an aside, Duncan Munro had a connection with a famous wartime incident in the North-east involving the ‘Beautiful Spy’. He was a brother-in-law of P C Bob Grieve, who in 1942 took part in the arrest of three German spies at Portgordon railway station and later was the star witness at their trial at the Old Bailey.
For details see:
http://rgu-sim.rgu.ac.uk/history/German%20Spies.htm
http://rgu-sim.rgu.ac.uk/history/spies.htm

The Munro family at Marnoch Morthouse, 9 September 1951.
From left: Albert, Kathleen, Duncan (Robert’s grandfather) holding Sheena, Brian (front), Robbie (Robert’s father), Kate (Robert’s grandmother), Erik.