MENZIES, John. b. 1808; ed. at high sch. Edinburgh; apprenticed to a bookseller; employed by Charles Tilt of Fleet st. London; bookseller and publisher in Prince’s st. Edinburgh 1833, removed to 2 South Hanover st. Edinb., and then to number 12 in the same street; established a branch business in Glasgow; published Menzies’ Pocket guide to Edinburgh 1852; Pocket guide to the Trosachs 1852; and Tourists’ pocket guide to Scotland 1852. d. 3 Grosvenor crescent, Edinburgh 6 Dec. 1879. Publishers’ Circular (1879) 1306; Bookseller, Jany. 1880 p. 7.
MENZIES, Robert Stewart (elder son of Graham Menzies of Hallyburton house, co. Forfar). b. 1856; ed. at Harrow and Ch. Ch. Oxf., B.A. 1879; barrister L.I. 26 Jany. 1882; M.P. East Perthshire, Dec. 1885 to death. d. Upper Brook st. Grosvenor sq. London 25 Jany. 1889.
MENZIES, William (eld. son of Mr. Menzies of Kincardine on Forth, agent upon lady Keith’s estate). b. Kincardine on Forth 1827; ed. at univ. of Edinb.; articled to a civil engineer and surveyor in Scotland; deputy surveyor of Windsor forest and parks 1849 to death; captain of the Windsor park volunteers 21 Jany. 1874 to death; author of The history of Windsor great park and Windsor forest 1864; A treatise on the sanitary management and utilisation of sewage 1865; Additional statement on drainage of towns 1865; The present state of the drainage question considered 1866; Suggestions for the improvement of labourers’ cottages and of villages 1869. d. Windsor great park 3 May 1878. bur. St. Jude’s cemetery, Englefield Green. Margaret Emmeline his widow granted civil list pension of £50, 19 June 1878. Land and Water, xxv 485 (1878).
MENZIES, William Collier (son of sir Charles Menzies 1783–1866). b. 4 Oct. 1818; 2 lieut. R.E. 5 May 1837, col. 20 Oct. 1869; L.G. 1 July 1881; placed on retired list with hon. rank of general 19 Oct. 1881. d. St. Heliers, Jersey 31 March 1890.
MERCER, Alexander. b. 1800; entered Bengal army 1817; lieut. 27 Bengal N.I. 1 Aug. 1818; lieut. 70 N.I. 13 May 1825, lieut.-col. 19 March 1847 to 1849; lieut.-col. of 1 European regiment, right wing 1849–50, and of 63 N.I. 1850 to death; C.B. 9 June 1849. d. York st. London 12 Nov. 1852.
MERCER, Alexander Cavalie. b. 1783; 2 lieut. R.A. 20 Dec. 1799; colonel R.A. 1 April 1846; col. commandant 16 Jany. 1859 to death; general 9 Feb. 1865. d. Cowley near Exeter 9 Nov. 1868.
MERCER, George. b. 1818; solicitor at Deal, Kent 1840 to death; town clerk of Deal 1840 to death; coroner for Deal 1844 to death; shot himself while lying in bed at his house 2 Victoria road, Deal 5 Oct. 1891. Solicitors’ Journal 17 Oct. 1891 p. 805.
MERCER, John (son of Robert Mercer, hand-loom cotton-spinner, d. 1800). b. Dean near Blackburn 21 Feb. 1791; a dyer at Great Harwood 1807–9; a hand-loom weaver 1810; a dyer again 1813, discovered a method of fixing orange sulphide of antimony on cotton-cloth 1817; a chemist in the colour-shop of Messrs. Fort Brothers at Oakenshaw, Lancs. 1818, a partner in the business 1825–48; propounded the first rational theory of the so-called catalytic action 1842; joined the Chemical society 1847; partner with Robert Hargreaves of Broadoak near Accrington 1845; discovered the process known as ‘mercerising’ 1850; patented the preparation of parchment paper 1850; F.R.S. 3 June 1852; F.C.S. 1842. d. Oakenshaw near Accrington 30 Nov. 1866. bur. Great Harwood. E. A. Parnell’s Life of John Mercer (1886), portrait.
MERCER, Robert (son of James Mercer, keeper of the abbreviates of adjudication, general register office, Edinb. d. 1846). b. 1797; writer to the signet 20 India st. Edinb. 5 July 1821, retired from business. d. Ramsay lodge, Portobello 3 Nov. 1875. bur. East Preston st. cemetery, Newington. Crombie’s Modern Athenians (1882) 173–4, portrait.
MERCER-HENDERSON, Douglas. Ensign 3 foot guards 24 March 1803, lieut.-col. 10 Jany. 1837 to 11 Aug. 1837 when placed on h.p.; colonel 68 foot 31 Jany. 1850 to death; C.B. 22 June 1815; L.G. 11 Nov. 1851; took surname of Henderson in addition to and after that of Mercer 14 Jany. 1853. d. Naples 21 March 1854.