CROYDON CHRONICLES: There are times when life, and death, can be stranger than fiction. Archive research by DAVID MORGAN suggests that a ‘Verne-esque’ sci-fi writer died in Croydon 25 years earlier than previously recorded

Documents have come to light which show that a prominent science fiction writer of the Victorian era, a contemporary of HG Wells, who had his books compared to Jules Verne,  died in Croydon in 1905, more than 25 years earlier than suggested in other published accounts, including Wikipedia.

Newspaper reports from 1905 of the inquest into the death of John Munro, and a death certificate, confirm that the electrical engineer and author had died in his home on St John’s Grove, Croydon, in June 1905.

Only now can the real story of how John Munro died be told.

John Munro was a professor of mechanical engineering at Bristol who had written expert papers and books on electricity – which was quite the sensation in the later years of the 19th Century.

He used his scientific mind and considerable imagination to write a series of science fiction stories, too, tapping into another popular genre of the age. Munro’s books – Sun-Rise in the Moon, A Message from Mars and A Trip to Venus – were even described by their publishers as “Verne-esque”, comparing him to the great French author of Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Munro lived in Croydon for 30 years, but he ended his days as a recluse, barely known even by the majority of his neighbours living on the same street, where he had his home for at least 10 years.

Headline news: how the Croydon newspapers reported Munro’s death in 1905

Mary Ann Budd lived at No5 St John’s Grove. One day in June 1905, from her back garden, she heard her neighbour at No3 uttering an awful moaning and groaning sound. She got a chair to look over into his property and saw him near his scullery. She called out to him, asking if he was all right.

“You look very ill,” Mrs Budd said. “Will you let me come round to check on you?”

The neighbour replied that he would be better after a sleep.

Mrs Budd rattled the back gate, to try and get in next door, but it was locked, so she went back inside her own house.

She became increasingly concerned and decided to go to the police station to inform them of the man’s situation and her worries about him.

Mrs Budd had barely time to walk back to her house when she heard someone knocking on her neighbour’s door. A constable had been despatched to check on the man. After failing to gain entry, the constable went to get assistance from a more senior officer. With the door locked, they broke a window to get inside.

There, they saw the old man collapsed, face down, at the foot of the stairs. There were no signs of attack, the only visible blood coming from a nosebleed. They sent for the doctor. When Dr Paget arrived, although the body was still warm, the physician could only confirm that the man was dead.

Coroner’s inquest: The Croydon Times’s a contemporary report from 1905 of the inquest into the death of John Munro

The discovery of the old man’s body was the uncovering of a tragedy and a story which has been lost for more than 100 years.

John Munro lived near the Parish Church in a small cottage, positioned back from the other houses in the street, but one which people will have noticed on a Sunday as they walked to the services at the end of the road.

The coroner’s inquest into the man’s death was held in the offices of the Croydon Infirmary, not far from the Workhouse, where Mayday Hospital is today.

According to a details newspaper report in The Croydon Times, at the inquest, Mrs Budd told the coroner that her neighbour had kept a very low profile. He was not a sociable person. For the first three or four years he lived there, she explained, he used to have a charlady who went in and out, but after a time, even her visits came to an end. Mrs Budd said that, apart from Munro himself, she hadn’t seen a soul at his house in the last couple of years.

Mrs Budd had no idea how her neighbour earned a living. The two of them hadn’t had any sort of conversation for a very long time. She used to see him smoking a cigar in his back garden, but she hadn’t set eyes on him for two or three weeks before the fateful day.

The policeman who gained entry was then questioned by the coroner. He said the house was listed in the town directory as being unoccupied but the police knew nothing of the man. The policeman saw little furniture in the property except two mattresses upstairs and one in the scullery. There were no blankets or sheets on the mattresses.

There was a table, a lamp and a few boxes. No carpets were on the floor. The only food in the house was some bread and cheese.

The policeman said there was evidence of a fire having been lit in the grate upstairs. Everywhere was dirty. It had been difficult to see anything through the windows, he remembered, as they were so grimy.

Published author: Munro’s works included  scientific manuals as well as sci-fi

When the police searched the body, they told the coroner that they found in his pockets £6 3s 7½d – a considerable sum, worth the equivalent of almost £1,000 in today’s money. The old man certainly wasn’t short of money.

Dr Paget was also questioned. He said that a postmortem examination had revealed that Munro’s heart was enlarged, the right side dilated with a large blood clot. The kidneys and liver were also enlarged. There was virtually no food in his stomach. In Dr Paget’s view, death was due to heart failure brought on by heart and kidney disease.

The jury returned a verdict to this effect.

The death certificate issued gave the date of death as just “June 1905”.

What had astonished those attending the inquest was the work which the police had to do to uncover the life of this Croydon recluse. At first, they were uncertain even of his name.

A box containing various papers, though, was discovered in the cottage. Its contents helped to reveal a remarkable story.

In the box were two cheques, both made payable to John Munro. One was from Cassell and Co, a publishing firm, for 12s 6d (worth almost £100 in today’s money). The other was from The Globe for £4 19s (another considerable sum, with buying power today equivalent to more than £700).

Also in the box was some correspondence, telegrams, between Munro and Professor Jameson, of the University of Glasgow. They had co-authored an academic book about electricity. A copy of the textbook was found in the house along with letters from the publishers, Cassells.

The police search also discovered a letter from Margaret Munro in Glasgow. After contacting the address – 7 Muir Park Avenue, South Renfrew – they located the man’s nephew, Charles Munro. Charles travelled to Croydon to speak with the police, and confirmed that John Munro was his uncle.

Charles said that he thought his uncle was about 56 years old.

Detailed reporting: the newspaper report on the inquest into the death of John Munro

Charles Munro gave evidence at the inquest, and was able to explain much more about his uncle’s past. He told the coroner that his uncle had been a student at Glasgow University and worked as a civil engineer. John Munro became an eminent author of matters relating to electricity, which were published by Cassell.

He told them about his uncle’s work with Professor Jameson, compiling what were at the time pioneering electrical rules and tables. He also told the inquest that, at the height of his fame, his uncle travelled widely round the world.

Charles Munro explained to the inquest that John Munro was his father’s youngest brother. The nephew and uncle corresponded, with the last letter being received by John about four weeks before his death.

Charles had not met his uncle for six years. The last occasion was in London when Charles had no inkling of his uncle’s lifestyle or that he lived such a solitary existence. There was never any suggestion that his uncle had any financial difficulties.

There was other evidence at the inquest to support this. A receipt was found among Munro’s papers for a meal at the Hotel Cecil on The Strand (a grand establishment facing the Thames, roughly where Shell Mex House is today). The meal was just a few months before his death – and just as today, meals at leading hotels in Edwardian London were never cheap.

Charles told the inquest that as well as writing scientific papers, his uncle had been the author of a novella entitled A Trip to Venus. This was published in 1894 by Jarrold and Co in London and was a significant sci-fi story of its day. Bookshops charged 3/6d for a copy.

One review thought that although the plot wasn’t as fanciful as Jules Verne, Munro certainly had a splendid imagination. The story concerned Professor Gazen, who wanted to travel to Mars but was persuaded by his friends to change the destination to Venus.

The journey was accomplished in a specially built car. Together with the writer, the other travellers were Naysmith Carmichael, the inventor and maker of the car, his daughter and Professor Grazen.

Space travel: Munro’s sci-fi books were advertised

They came across a race of Venusians who were well-educated and who gave the visitors from Earth a hearty welcome.

The space explorers discovered that the heat there was bearable and the air breathable.

The novella described the planet with its many species of fantastic plants and fabulous animals, different environments and its kind, religious-like inhabitants.

On returning to earth, Prof Grazen tried to tell other scientists about his extraterrestrial discoveries. But was laughed at and disbelieved.

HG Wells’ book, The First Men In The Moon, another tale of space exploration, would not be published until 1901.

John Munro was born in Torryburn, Fife, in 1850. According to the 1881 census he was living, as a boarder, in 4 Montague Place, Montague Road, in Broad Green, and his occupation was given as “public writer and electrician”. Ten years later, 1891, he was listed as living in 23 Duppas Hill Terrace, the sole occupant and described as the head of the household.

Expert work: this work by John Munro was published in Cassell’s magazine in 1878

It was after this that Munro moved to the cottage on St John’s Grove, what is now St John’s Road, on the opposite side of Roman Way from the Minster.

Charles Munro’s father, David Munro, was John’s older brother. David Munro was married in Christ Church West Croydon, in 1868, but he died in Croydon just a few years later.

John Munro is not, of itself, an unusual name, but there’s no explanation why a man’s death in Bristol in 1930 should be confused with the author and scientist who died in Croydon 25 years earlier. There were no works by John Munro published after 1905.

What made John Munro, author, electrical expert and civil engineer, end his days as a recluse, we shall never know, although the isolation towards the end of his life has meant that he has not been properly remembered. Perhaps this account will encourage others to come forward with more information about the life and scientific times of John Munro.

His story is definitely one which should not be forgotten.

• Listen to David Morgan discuss his discovery of John Munro’s untimely death in our latest edition of The Croydon Insider, our non-iconic round-table news panel discussion thingy – premium content which – for this episode – is free to access for all our readers. Just click here, and if you want to support our journalism, sign up as a paying subscriber today

• David Morgan has been chronicling Croydon’s history for Inside Croydon for a decade. Morgan is a former Croydon headteacher, now the volunteer education officer at Croydon Minster, who offers tours or illustrated talks on the history around the Minster for local community groups

If you would like a group tour of Croydon Minster or want to book a school visit, then ring the Minster Office on 020 688 8104 or go to the website on www.croydonminster.org and use the contact page

Some previous articles by David Morgan:

• Pioneer of sociology whose book called for an evolution
• After eight years, Bishop prepares for his final Minster service
• The weather warnings from history: thunderbolts and lightning
• The church fire that consumed a thousand years of history

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