a position which gave him considerable local political power and status. The following year he was re-elected to these offices, and in addition, was appointed one of the City’s representatives on the Convention of the Royal Burghs of Scotland. In 1713 the Town Council appointed him surgeon to the poor of the city for an annual salary of '300 merks Scots', a position he held until 1720. Political allegiance Monro was loyal to the British monarchy. He was present in his official robes as Deacon of Convenery along with other civic dignitaries at the proclamation of George I as King of Great Britain, France and Ireland at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh on 5 August 1714. It seems likely that he attended the wounded at the Battle of Sherrifmuir in 1715 during the Jacobite rising. Role in establishing the Edinburgh Medical School Having established himself in Edinburgh as a man of influence and authority in professional and civic affairs, John Monro set about the fulfilment of his ambition of founding in the City a "Seminary of Medical Education" modelled on the medical school of the University of Leiden, where he had studied. In 1720, he produced "a plan which he had long formed in my own mind, of having the different branches of Physic and Surgery regularly taught at Edinburgh, which was highly approved by them". His plan was favourably received by the Town Council, the University of Edinburgh the Royal College of Physicians and the Incorporation of Surgeons. The key to its success was the appointment to the University Chair of Anatomy of John Monro’s son, Alexander, whose education and training had been planned with this specific objective. Indeed, Alexander arguably had the best medical education available at the time, studying in Edinburgh, London, Paris and Leiden. To facilitate his son's appointment to this key chair, John Monro used his influence in 1720 to force the Incorporation's two Professors of anatomy, John McGill and Adam Drummond to resign in favour of his son. The reason for these resignations was because "...the state of their health and business were such that they could not duly attend the said professorships" and they unanimously recommended Alexander Monro to be Professor of Anbatomy to the city and the University. The following week, on 29 January 1720 Alexander was appointed by the town Council as Professor of Anatomy in the University. In the following