A Truly Talented Dressmaker - This web site, dedicated to Jean Muir, includes a collection of press cuttings and other information celebrating the life of one of Britain's greatest fashion designers.
Lots more information can be found in the Jean Muir Archive at: National Museums Scotland.
Grandparents — Robert Campbell Muir 1879-1945 & Amelia Ann Prophet 1897-1976
Kroonstad, Orange Free State, South Africa. 1901
Robert Muir's father was born in Elderslie, Glasgow, Scotland on the 19th February 1879. As a boy he joined a sailing ship operating out of Glasgow. All sorts of adventures followed, one being that whilst signed on to the SS Hengist, the ship was wrecked on the rocky shores off Patagonia, South America. Fortunately the crew were rescued by a Royal Navy ship which was in the area, the Falkland Islands at the time being an important outpost of the British Empire and a Royal Naval Station.
He later went also to South Africa signing up with the Cape Town Highlanders, a local militia ready to fight the South African 'Boers' in the Boer War. Shortly afterwards he was able to join the Regular British Army and continued to serve his country in the War against the Boers until he was sent home at the end of hostilities.
Next came the First World War, because of his previous service with the British Army he was immediately accepted and sent over to France in 1914, earning the affectionate title of being one of 'The Old Contemptibles'. In 1915 he was severely wounded and invalided out of the Army. However, he could not sit back and not do his bit so he joined the Royal Navy, serving in the Middle East, 'Mesopotamia', on a gun boat patrolling the River Tigris, he was severely wounded again and this time for him the War was truly over.
The Medals he received for his service for his country include those awarded for his South African experiences, then in the First World War the rare award to an individual, firstly a set of medals covering his Army Service and then also that for his time with the Royal Navy.