Background
Robert Munford, III was born in 1737, at "Whitehall, " Prince George County, Virginia, of aristocratic stock, son of Robert Munford, II and his wife Anna Bland.
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Robert Munford, III
Edit ProfileEducation
Munford, III was educated at Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, along with other sons of the Virginia gentry, and while quite a young man was a soldier in the French-Indian wars, serving as captain in the 2nd Virginia Regiment, under William Byrd III, in the campaign of 1758. There are extant several letters written by him from Fort Cumberland to his uncle Theodorick Bland, Sr. , which give interesting details of his military experience as well as his estimate of Colonel Washington.
Career
When Mecklenburg County was formed in 1765 Munford, III was made county-lieutenant and continued in that office until his death, the while representing the district in the House of Burgesses, 1765 - 1775, and in the General Assembly, 1779 and 1780 - 1781. In the pre-Revolutionary period he followed a temperate but courageous part in resisting British aggressions, and he was among those who signed the Williamsburg Association, a non-importation agreement, on June 22, 1770.
During the war he saw much service of different kinds, his efforts in recruiting soldiers for the American army being especially beneficial, and rose to the rank of major.
A fine type of the cultured colonial gentleman and planter, Munford, III found diversion in literature from his professional activities. His reputation as a writer depends, save for occasional letters, upon his single posthumous volume, A Collection of Plays and Poems (1798), published, with a preface, by his son William; but this miscellany suffices to demonstrate, besides an aim to combine instruction with entertainment, his grace and vigor of expression, shrewd observation of men and events, broad humor, and turn for trenchant satire.
Save for a spirited "Patriotic Song" and an amusing narrative, "The Ram, " ridiculing feminine vanity, the half-score original poems lack distinction. More should be said, however, for the two prose plays and for the rhymed translation of Book I of Ovid's Metamorphoses - his death prevented the completion of this task--which is both scholarly and pleasing.
The Candidates, written apparently several years before the Revolution, is a three-act satire upon country election practices which spares neither the heedless voter nor the unscrupulous aspirant; in spite of certain limitations, it mixes sound sense and passable farce with its gibes, and "it introduces in Ralpho probably the first negro character in the American drama".
The Patriots (first published in Philadelphia, 1776, although seemingly never acted) is a much more significant piece, not only in structure, characters, dialogue, and particularly in plot, but also in its general temper. Avowedly a contrast between real and pretended patriotism, this early purpose drama from the pen of a man whose devotion and services to his country were above question is of added interest for its undertone of almost pacifistic hatred of war and its impatience with extremes of conduct and precept, whether Whig or Tory. Robert Munford, III died in 1783, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.
Achievements
Politics
Politically, Munford, III appears to have been a moderate during the pre-Revolutionary period, expressing loyalty to the king, but protesting taxation, and refusing to recognize the absolute authority of Parliament. Because he opposed the war, he was less active in public life for a short period before and after the war, but was elected to the House of Delegates in 1779. Munford, III maintained a role with the military throughout this time, however, and by 1781 he commanded the militias for Mecklenburg, Lunenburg, and Brunswick counties.
Connections
Robert Munford, III was married to his first cousin, Anne, daughter of William Beverley of "Blandfield, " Essex County. The couple had two daughters and one son.
