The life of Alfred Miller Mundy
‘Squire’ Alfred Miller Mundy (9 January 1809 – 29 March 1877) of Shipley Hall was born on 9 January 1809 at Shipley. He was the third son of Edward Miller Mundy (d. 1834) and his wife Nelly Mundy (née Barton). Edward was the owner of the manor of Shipley, having succeeded his father and namesake to his estate in 1822. Alfred’s paternal grandfather Edward Miller Mundy was the first of the Miller Mundys to own Shipley, having inherited it through his mother Hester Mundy (née Miller) on the condition that he take the name Miller. He was also the Tory MP for the constituency of Derbyshire. Alfred was a direct male-line descendant of Sir John Mundy, who had first purchased the manors of Markeaton (the principal seat of the Mundy family), Allestree and Mackworth from Lord Audley in 1516 and became Lord Mayor of London in 1522.
Alfred enlisted in the army and was stationed in Sydney, Australia in November 1827 when he was promoted to Second Lieutenant, 94th Regiment of Foot, later promoted to Lieutenant, 21st Regiment of Foot. He was appointed a Magistrate in Tasmania in March 1835 and as Justice of the Peace in 1837. He resigned his commission in 1839 but was later commonly referred to as “Lieutenant Mundy”.
Mundy was appointed acting Clerk of the Legislative Council of South Australia in June 1840 and Private Secretary to the newly appointed Governor Grey in May 1841. He was appointed by the Governor to the Legislative Council on 15 June 1843, originally as a non-official appointee, then as Colonial Secretary from 15 June 1848 to 14 June 1849 when he returned to England on leave of absence. His brother Edward Miller Mundy, who was M.P. for the constituency of South Derbyshire had died childless on 29 January 1849 and Alfred resigned on succeeding to the family estate, which included lucrative coal mines. He was Sheriff of Derbyshire in 1855, and a Justice of the Peace for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
Alfred married Jane Hindmarsh (1814 – 8 May 1874) on 5 June 1841 in Australia. They had three children; Maria Jane Miller Mundy (d. 30 August 1902) married the diplomat Sir Edmund Constantine Henry Phipps, grandson of the 1st Earl of Mulgrave, Nelly Hindmarsh Miller Mundy (1844 – 27 June 1912), who married Charles John Addington (17 March 1832 – 11 September 1903) in 1862, and Alfred Edward Miller Mundy (28 November 1849 – 1920) who married Ellen Mary Palmer-Morewood of Alfreton Hall (She deserted him for the young Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. They divorced in 1881 and she later became the Countess of Shrewsbury).
Alfred died on 30 March 1877 while on holiday in Nice. He and his wife Jane are buried at the east end of Cotmanhay Churchyard. In Australia, Mundy Creek, which flows into Lake Eyre South, was named for him in 1840. Lake Mundy in Victoria was named for him in 1839.
(Australian information from Wikipedia)
