Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/392

 1810; Lord James Murray; George, died an infant; Lord George [q. v.], who became bishop of St. Davids; Lord William; Lord Henry; Lord Charles, dean of Bocking, Essex; Lady Charlotte, died unmarried; Lady Amelia, married first to Thomas Ivie Cooke, an officer of the army, and secondly to Sir Richard Gamon of Minchenden, Middlesex; Jane, to John Groset Muirhead of Breachesholm, Lanarkshire; and Mary, to the Rev. George Martin.

 MURRAY, JOHN (1718–1777), of Broughton, secretary to Prince Charles during the rebellion of 1745, born in 1718. was the second son of Sir David Murray of Stanhope, Peeblesshire, by his second wife, Marfaret, daughter of Sir JohnScot of Ancrum. he father is mentioned in a letter of George Lockhart of 29 July 1726 to the Old Pretender as 'eminently zealous' in his service, and as a fit agent for carrying on a correspondence with the highland clans, more especially since he had a residence in the highlands (Papers, ii. 299); but on being sounded as to his willingness to undertake such duties, the elder Murray declined, partly because he wished meanwhile to devote all his attention to the development of his estate, and partly because when he ' got his life after the last affair ' (in 1715) he entered into engagements which made it impossible for him to take an active part in plots against the government (ib. p. 302). He nevertheless joined in the rebellion of 1745, for which he was sentenced to death at York, and was subsequently pardoned on condition that he left the country, his estates also being forfeited.

The son was educated at the university of Edinburgh. He was possessed of the small estate of Broughton, Peeblesshire, and has on this account been erroneously regarded as one of the Murrays of Broughton in Galloway. In February 1741-2 the highland Jacobites employed him and Drummond of Balhaldie to go to Rome to assure the Pretender of their zeal for his service (State Trials, xviii. 651). He paid a second visit to Paris in 1743, and returned in 1745 with information of the prince's intended expedition. The general feeling of the highland Jacobites was against the proposed rising (ib. p. 662), the promises of aid from France being regarded as unsatisfactory. An attempt, however, to prevent the prince setting sail miscarried; nor was the project of sending Murray to watch for his arrival in the west highlands and warn him off the coast more successful. Murray remained at his post during the whole of June, when, supposing the project to have been deferred, he returned to his house at Broughton. But on the arrival of the prince he joined him at Kinlochmoidart, Inverness-shire, and during the campaign he acted as his secretary. In the discharge of his duties he manifested great activity and energy, but is supposed to have been the chief cause of the prince's difficulties with Lord George Murray, of whom he was extremely jealous. Murray strongly represented the prestige that would accrue to the cause of the prince by the occupation of Edinburgh; and from his accurate local knowledge he was chosen to guide the movements of the rebel army on approaching it. When James VIII was proclaimed king at the cross of Edinburgh, Murray's wife, who was one of the beauties of the Edinburgh society of the period, appeared at the ceremony on horseback decorated with ribbons, and having a drawn sword in her hand.

Some time before Culloden Murray had become so seriously unwell as to be unable to discharge his duties as secretary. On the eve of the battle he was sent in a litter to Foyers on Loch Ness, whence he was carried across to Glenmoriston. Here he was informed of the result of the battle. After it was decided to discontinue the contest, he went to the house of Cameron of Lochiel, where he seems to have recovered his health. From French ships that had arrived at Borrodale he secured six casks of gold, the greater part of which, according to his own account, he buried in secret places : 15,000l. in a mound near Loch Arkaig and 12,000l. near the foot of the same lake, and retained only about 5,000l. to meet current expenses (manuscript memoirs of Murray quoted in, Hist. of the Rebellion, ed. 1869, p. 326). When, however, the prince sent a messenger, Donald Macleod, to ask for a supply of money from Murray, who Avas found along with Lochiel at the head of Loch Arkaig, he 'got no money at all from Murray, who said he had none to give, having only about sixty louis d'or to himself, which it was not worth the trouble to send' ({{sc|Forbes}, Jacobite Memoirs, p. 397). Macleod adds that the prince looked on Murray as 'one of the honestest, finest men in the whole world' (ib.) Subsequently Murray made his way south through the passes, but was taken prisoner at the house of his brother-in-law, Mr. Hunter of Polmood, Peeblesshire. Thence he was sent up to London, where he turned king's evidence against the Jacobites. When Sir John Douglas of Kelhead was brought before the privy