John Shannon Munn was born in 1880 in Harbour Grace, Newfoundland, into a prominent local family.

William Munn died in 1882 and his widow, born Flora LeMessurier Clift, remarried in 1888 to Edgar Rennie Bowring, scion of another merchant family.

[1] Despite this form, he did not make his debut for the first XI until Oxford's fourth first-class match of the season, likely due to his status as a first-year student.

[2] On debut against Somerset in June 1900, Munn opened the bowling with Harold White, with his teammates including Bernard Bosanquet, and, Tip Foster, a future England captain.

[5] Despite his earlier performances, Munn failed to make the Oxford team for the annual match against the University of Cambridge.

[10] Munn is one of only three first-class cricketers known to have been born in Newfoundland,[11] the others being William Bowring and Stuart Pitts, who briefly played for Middlesex.

[1] Early in that year, he booked passage from St. John's to New York City via Halifax, aboard the SS Florizel, a passenger liner employed by his company's Red Cross Line.

Due to a navigational error, the ship's captain, William J. Martin, turned westward well before passing the cape, causing her to founder 300 yards (270 m) offshore of Horn Head Point, close to Cappahayden.

[1] The most notable memorial, in honour of Betty Munn, was an exact replica of the statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, London, made by sculptor George Frampton from his original.

[17] Frampton believed the St. John's statue to be superior to the Kensington Gardens original, as "the wholly natural surroundings and flowing river [were] more in keeping with the spirit of Peter".