Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/393

 council at St. James's, and asked, in reference to Murray, 'Do you know this witness?' 'Not I,' he answered; 'I once knew a person who bore the designation of Murray of Broughton, but that was a gentleman and a man of honour, and one that could hold up his head' (, Life of Scott, edit. 1842, p. 49). Murray was one of the principal witnesses against Simon Fraser, twelfth lord Lovat. On his appearance Lord Lovat objected that Murray was attainted by act of parliament made in the previous session, and that 'he did not surrender himself before 12 July last' (State Trials, xviii. 607), but the attorney-general replied that he had surrendered on the 20th to the lord justice clerk in Edinburgh (ib. p. 610). That Murray wished to surrender is corroborated by the author of 'Ascanius,' who states that when a party was in search for him at Broughton a boy was sent to them from Murray with the message that he was at Polmood. He, however, adds that at Edinburgh Murray 'was so drunk that he could not speak to the justice clerk till after a few hours' sleep' (edit. 1779, p. 142). Murray was discharged about Christmas 1747 (ib.) In 1764 Murray disposed of the estate of Broughton to Dickson of Havana. After the death of Sir David Murray of Stanhope, at Leghorn, without issue, 19 Oct. 1770, he succeeded to the baronetcy. He died 6 Dec. 1777. By his wife Margaret, daughter of Colonel Robert Ferguson, brother of William Ferguson of Cailloch, Nithsdale, he had three sons: David, his heir, who became a naval officer; Robert, who succeeded on the death of his brother David in 1791 without issue; and Thomas, who became a lieutenant-general. His first wife was unfaithful to him, and he married as second wife a young quaker lady named Webb, whom he found in a provincial boarding-school in England. By this lady he had six children, the eldest being Charles Murray [q. v,], the comedian (note to, History of the Rebellion in 1745, edit.. 1869, p. 331).

Murray was a client of Sir Walter Scott's father, a W.S. in Edinburgh, and used to visit him in the evening, arriving in a sedan-chair carefully muffled up in a mantle. Curious as to who the visitor might be, Mrs. Scott on one occasion entered as he was about to leave with a salver and a dish of tea. He accepted it, but the moment he left, 'Mr. Scott, lifting up the window-sash, took the cup and tossed it out upon the pavement. The lady exclaimed for her china, but was put to silence by her husband's saying, "I can forgive your little curiosity, madam, but you must pay the penalty. I may admit into my house, on a piece of business, persons wholly unworthy to be treated as guests by my wife. Neither lip of me nor of mine comes after Murray of Broughton's' (, Life of Scott, edit. 1842, p. 49).

 MURRAY, JOHN (1711–1787), of Banner Cross, Yorkshire, general, born 14 April 1711, was eldest son by his second wife of John Murray, second marquis and first duke of Atholl [q. v.], and was half-brother of the Jacobite leaders, William Murray, marquis of Tullibardine [q. v.], and Lord George Murray (1705–1760) [q. v.] He was appointed ensign in a regiment of foot 7 Oct. 1727, on the recommendation of General Wade (Hist. MSS. Comm. 11th Rep. pt. iv. p. 199), and lieutenant and captain 3rd footguards (Scots guards) in 1733, in which regiment he became captain-lieutenant in 1737, and captain and lieutenant-colonel in 1738. On 25 April 1745 he was appointed to the colonelcy of the 42nd highlanders or Black Watch, which he held for forty-two years. He served with his regiment in Flanders in 1747, at the relief of Hulst and the defence of Fort Sandberg, and commanded the troops in the retreat to Welshorden. He was a volunteer at the defence of Bergen-op-Zoom the same year (1747). He was in an especial manner the friend of every deserving officer and man in his regiment, and did more to foster the national character of the corps than any other officer. Papers of the day speak of him as marching down in full regimentals at the head of the many highlanders disabled at Ticonderoga in 1758, to plead their claims before the Chelsea board, with the result that every man received a pension. He offered every man who liked to accept it a cottage and garden on his estate rent free. Murray became a major-general in 1755, a lieutenant-general in 1758, and general in 1770. He was elected M.P. for Perth in 1741, 1747, and 1754. He married, at Sheffield, on 13 Sept. 1758, Miss Dalton of Bannercross, a Yorkshire lady of property. He died in Paris on 26 May 1787, in his seventy-seventh year, being then the oldest general in the army. 