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ELIBANK,
a title in the peerage of Scotland, conferred in 1643, on Sir Patrick
Murray, descended from the Murrays of Blackbarony in Peebles-shire, who
claim an ancient descent independent of all other families of the name,
[see MURRAY, surname of], and whose great ancestor is supposed to have
been Johan de Morreff, in the Ragman Roll, one of those Scots barons who
swore allegiance to Edward the First in 1296. William de Moray,
conjectured to be his son, was one of the prisoners taken at the battle of
Durham with King David the Second, 17th October 1346. John de
Moravia or Murray, supposed to be this William’s son, a man of
distinguished rank and figure in the reigns of Kings Robert the Second and
Third, is particularly mentioned in a charter of date 14th
March 1409-10, as proprietor of the lands of Halton-Murray or Blackbarony.
From him descended in a direct line, Andrew Murray of Blackbarony, living
in the sixteenth century, who by his second wife, Griselda, daughter of
John Bethune of Creich, if Fife, relict of William Scott, younger of
Branxholm, ancestor of the dukes of Buccleuch, had, with three daughters,
Sir John Murray, his successor, from whom descended the Murrays of
Blackbarony, baronets, of Ravelrig, Murrayshall, Cringletie, Henderland,
and others of the name; Andrew, of whom there is no succession; Gideon,
ancestor of the lords Elibank, and Sir William, of Clermont, in Fife,
whose son, Sir William Murray of Clermont, was created a baronet of Nova
Scotia 1st July 1626, ancestor of Sir James Murray Pulteney,
baronet, M.P.
The third son,
Sir Gideon Murray, an eminent lawyer, was appointed a lord of session,
when he assumed the judicial title of Lord Elibank. In his youth he
applied himself to the study of theology, but had the misfortune, in a
quarrel to kill a man of the name of Aitchison, for which he was
imprisoned in the castle of Edinburgh. Having to into the good graces of
the wife of Chancellor Arran, through her influence he procured his
release and a remission. [Scott of Scotstarvet’s Staggering State,
p. 49.] He now gave up all thoughts of the church, and became chamberlain
to his nephew of the half-blood, Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch. He was
first designed of Glenpottie, and had a charter of the lands of Elibank,
or Eliburn, in the county of Selkirk, with a salmon fishing in the Tweed,
15th March 1593-4. He is said to have carried the standard of
Buccleuch, in a border conflict between the Scotts and the Johnstons, when
Lord Maxwell was slain. He was knighted by the earl of Dunfermline, lord
chancellor, on 4th March 1605, and on 20th February
1610, he obtained a pension of twelve hundred pounds Scots from the earl
of Dunbar, which was afterwards ratified by the estates. In 1611 the king
presented him with what is described as a “guilt bassing (gilt basin),
whiche wes given to us by our burgh of Edinburgh, with thair propyne
(gift) of money, at our first entrie of the said burgh, at our last being
in our said kingdome. Togidder with two guilt cuppes, one of them in forme
of a salmond, presented to us by our burgh of Glasgow; and another guilt
cuppe, which was given us by the towne of Carlisle. Togedder, also, with
some remanent of musk and ambergreise which was unspent at our being
thair; and lastlie, ane large iron chest, which did some time belong to
the late earl of Gowrie.” [Skene Papers, in Adv. Lib. No. 21.] In
the parliament which met at Edinburgh, on 15th October 1612, he
was member for the county of Selkirk, and was elected one of the lords of
the articles for the small barons. He was also appointed a member of a
commission for revising the penal statutes, and of another for settling
the order of a taxation then granted to King James the Sixth, on the
occasion of the marriage of his daughter, the princess Elizabeth. When the
king’s favourite, Robert Kerr, (in England altered into Carr) afterwards
earl of Somerset, was appointed lord high treasurer in 1613, he
constituted Sir Gideon Murray his deputy, in which situation he was
subsequently continued by the earl of Mar, when appointed to the same
office. On the 2d November, the same year, he was admitted one of the
lords of session. In 1616 his pension was augmented to two thousand four
hundred pounds Scots, and extended to his sons. The entire management of
the revenue of Scotland was in his lordship’s hands, and it is
acknowledged to have been so judicious that he was not only enabled to
repair the palaces and royal residences of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh
castle, Linlithgow, Stirling castle Dunfermline, Falkland, and Dumbarton
castle, with the addition of new edifices to them all, but he had so much
money in the treasury as to defray the expenses of James and his court on
his visit to Scotland in 1617. The king had a very high sense of his
services, and on one occasion, Sir Gideon happening, in the king’s
bedroom, to drop his chevron, his majesty, though both old and stiff,
stooped down and gave him his glove; saying, “My predecessor, Queen
Elizabeth, thought she did a favour to any man who was speaking with her,
when she let her glove fall, that he might take it up, and give it to her;
but, Sir, you may say a king lifted your glove.” Yet for all this, James,
in 1621, was induced, on an accusation made by James Stewart, Lord
Ochiltree, of malversations in his office of treasurer depute, to order
him to be sent a prisoner to Scotland, and a day was appointed for his
trial. He was so much affected by this treatment that he took to bed, and
abstained from food, believing, says Scotstarvet, [Staggering State,
page 51,] that he had no money either to get meat of drink to himself,
and, after an illness of twenty days, during the greater part of which he
remained stupified and silent, he died on 28th June 1621. By
Margaret Pentland, his wife, he had two sons and a daughter, Agnes,
married to Sir William Scott of Harden, who was the eldest son of “The
Flower of Yarrow.” The second son was, in 1610, committed to the castle of
Edinburgh for accepting of a challenge from the son of Lord Cranstoun,
while the latter was sent to the castle of Blackness for sending it. Both
youths being called before the privy council, a reconciliation took place,
but Lord Cranstoun’s son, for attempting to renew the quarrel, was
banished the king’s dominions till he could make his peace with his
majesty. A curious letter on the subject, from the privy council to King
James at London, under date 10th August, 1610, is inserted in
Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials, vol. iii. p. 505, quoted from the
Denmylne MSS. in the Advocate’s Library.
Sir Patrick
Murray, the elder son, was appointed, in his father’s lifetime, by a
letter under the great seal, dated 27th June 1611, governor or
keeper of the king’s castle of Caerlaverock, with an annuity of fifty
pounds sterling for life. He got several charters of land between 1613 and
1630, and was possessed of a large estate. On 16th May 1628 he
was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, and in the parliament of June 1633
he was elected one of the lords of the articles for the barons. He was
raised to the peerage by the title of Lord Elibank, by patent dated at
Oxford, 18th March 1643, to him and his heirs male whatsoever.
He adhered firmly to Charles the First during all the time of the civil
war, and lent the king a large sum of money when at Oxford, his majesty’s
bond for which the family are said still to retain. He was one of the six
peers who, in January 1647, opposed the delivering up of Charles to the
parliament of England. He died 12th November 1649. His lordship
was four times married, and had several children. One of his sons settled
in Ireland, and was ancestor of the Murrays of Ravigny there.
His eldest son,
by his second wife, (Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Dundas of Arniston)
Patrick, second Lord Elibank, joined the marquis of Montrose when he
appeared in arms for Charles the First in 1644, and was fined twenty
thousand merks by the committee of parliament in 1646. He died 13th
February 1661. By his wife, Lady Elizabeth Stewart, second daughter of the
second earl of Traquair, lord high treasurer of Scotland, he had, with one
daughter, two sons, Patrick, third lord, and the Hon. John Murray, a
captain in the army, killed at the battle of Antrim, in Ireland.
Patrick, third
lord, was a privy councillor to King James the Seventh, but in 1687 was
laid aside for opposing the repeal of the penal laws, and died the same
year. By his wife, Anne, daughter of Alexander Burnet, archbishop first of
Glasgow, and afterwards of St. Andrews, and widow of the seventh Lord
Elphinston, he had, with four daughters, one son, Alexander.
Alexander,
fourth lord, was born 99th March 1677. He was a minor at the
time of his father’s death, and on coming of age he took the oaths and his
seat in the Scots parliament 19th July 1698. He supported the
treaty of Union, and died in February 1736, in his fifty-ninth year. He
married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. George Stirling, surgeon in Edinburgh,
and M.P. for that city, and by her he had, with several daughters, five
sons.
The Hon.
Alexander Murray, the fourth son, was an ensign in the 26th
foot or Cameronians, his commission being dated 11th August
1737. He was so enthusiastic a Jacobite as to propose heading an
insurrection in favour of the Pretender, and at the Westminster election
of 1750, which was keenly contested, he was extremely active on the part
of Sir George Vandeput, the candidate opposed to government. A complaint
was preferred against him to the House of Commons by Peter Legh, high
bailiff of Westminster, that Mr. Murray had encouraged a mob to proceed to
acts of violence against him, saying, with imprecations, “Will nobody
knock the dog down? Will nobody kill the dog?” On this complaint he was
ordered, on 6th February 1751, to be committed close prisoner
to Newgate, and as he refused to express contrition on his knees, he was
detained in confinement till the succeeding June, when he was released by
a prorogation of parliament. Accompanied by Lord Carpenter, and Sir George
Vandeput in his coach, and the sheriffs of London in a chariot, Mr. Murray
went in procession, preceded by a great concourse of people, from Newgate
to the house of his brother Lord Elibank, in Henrietta Street, near Oxford
Market, London, a flag being carried before hi, inscribed, “Murray and
Liberty.” A mezzotinto print of him was engraved, and a pamphlet
published, entitled ‘The Case of Alexander Murray Esq., in an appeal to
the people of Great Britain, more particularly to the inhabitants of
Westminster.’ As this pamphlet contained some severe reflections against a
noble duke, the House of Commons, and the high bailiff of Westminster, a
general search was made for it, and on the 2d July, the printer, Owen the
publisher, and several booksellers were examined at the secretary of
state’s office, when the two former were ordered into custody and the rest
discharged. Not choosing to place himself again in the power of the House
of Commons, he went, in November of the same year, to reside in France,
where he was styled Count Murray. At the meeting of parliament, 25th
November, a motion was carried in the House of Commons for his being
recommitted to Newgate, and a proclamation was issued offering a reward of
five hundred pounds for taking him into custody. He was at Paris in 1763,
when he made a conspicuous figure in the quarrel betwixt his friend
Captain Forbes and the noted John Wilkes. He also proved extremely active
in behalf of the pursuer in the great ‘Douglas cause’ against the duke of
Hamilton. He remained in exile till April 1771, when he was recalled to
England, by a letter from the privy council, and died, unmarried, in 1777.
The Hon. James
Murray, the fifth son, a distinguished general, also attracted, during his
life, a considerable share of public attention. He entered the army very
young, ans was one of the brigadiers of Wolfe’s forces at the taking of
Quebec, of which he was appointed governor, and distinguished himself by
his defence of that city. In 1763, he was nominated governor of Canada. In
1774 he was appointed governor of Minorca, and in his defence of Fort St.
Philip in 1781 and 1782, he displayed the most heroic traits of fidelity
and valour. The fort having been for some time closely besieged by the
combined forces of France and Spain, under the duke de Crillon, the most
strenuous efforts were made to obtain possession of it, but the assailants
being repulsed in all their attacks, the duke, despairing of success, took
the opportunity of a communication relative to an exchange of prisoners,
to offer General Murray one million of money, with a foreign peerage, to
surrender the place. General Murray immediately notified this disgraceful
proposal in the orders to the garrison, and sent the following indignant
letter to the commander of the allies: “Fort St. Philip, 16th
October 1781. – When your brave ancestor was desired by his sovereign to
assassinate the duke de Guise, he returned the answer which you should
have done, when you were charged to assassinate the character of a man
whose birth is as illustrious as your own, or that of the duke of Guise. I
can have no further communication with you but in arms. If you have any
humanity, pray send clothing for your unfortunate prisoners in my
possession. Leave it at a distance to be taken up for them, because I will
admit of no contact for the future, but such as is hostile to the most
inveterate degree.” To this the duke replied: “Your letter restores each
of us to our places; it confirms me in the high opinion I have always had
of you. I accept your last proposal with pleasure.”
The garrison,
reduced to great extremities, three-fourths of the men being cut off by
the scurvy, was at length compelled to capitulate, and they marched out
with all the honours of war, declaring that the surrender was made to God
alone. In his letter to the earl of Hillsborough, one of the secretaries
of state, dated Minorca, 16th February 1782, giving an account
of the surrender, General Murray says, “Perhaps a more noble nor a more
tragical scene was never exhibited than that of the march of the garrison
of St. Philip’s through the Spanish and French armies. It consisted of no
more than six hundred old decrepid soldiers, two hundred seamen, one
hundred and twenty of the royal artillery, forty-five Corsicans, Greeks,
&c. The two armies were drawn up in two lines, the battalions fronting
each other, forming a way for us to pass through. They consisted of
fourteen thousand men. Such was the distressing figures of our men that
many of the Spanish and French troops are said to have shed tears as they
passed them. For my own part I felt no uneasiness upon this occasion but
what proceeded from the miserable disorder which threatened us with
destruction. Thanks to the Almighty, my apprehensions are now abated; the
humanity of the duke de Crillon (whose heart was most sensibly touched
with the misfortunes of such brave men) has gone even beyond my wishes, in
providing everything which can contribute to our recovery.” In consequence
of some charges brought against General Murray in relation to the siege,
by Sir William Draper, deputy governor of Minorca, the former was brought
before a court martial at the Horse Guards, London, 12th
November 1782, and acquitted of all, except two of the most trifling, for
which he was adjudged to be reprimanded. Upon the judgment of the court
being communicated to the king, the judge-advocate notified that his
majesty approved of the opinion of the court martial, but that in
consequence of the zeal, courage, and firmness with which General Murray
had conducted himself in the defence of Fort St. Philip. as well as of his
former long and approved services, his majesty had been graciously pleased
to dispense with any other reprimand, in respect of the misconduct of
which he has been in two instances found guilty, than that which the
sentence of the court martial in itself virtually conveyed. His majesty at
the same time expressed much concern that an officer of Sir William
Draper’s rank and distinguished character should have exhibited charges
against his superior officer which the court martial had deemed to be
frivolous and ill-founded. As a duel was anticipated between the two
officers, from some offensive expressions made use of by Sir William
Draper to General Murray, and the latter’s reply, on the interference of
his majesty, Sir William, on the 6th February 1783, expressed
his concern at having made use of words which he acknowledged were very
improper and unjustifiable; and General Murray, on the 8th,
declared that he thought himself unfortunate that any part of his conduct
during his command in Minorca should have given offence to Sir William
Draper; and so this disagreeable affair terminated. The general was
afterwards prosecuted by Mr. Sutherland, judge-advocate of Minorca, and
had five thousand pounds damages awarded against him; but on the petition
of the general, the House of Commons ordered that sum to be repaid to him
out of the pubic money, 6th May 1785. General Murray died June
18, 1794. Of this heroic commander a woodcut is subjoined from an
engraving by Neele:
[portrait of General Murray]
The Hon. Barbara Murray, eldest daughter of the fourth lord, married Sir
James Johnstone of Westerhall, Dumfries-shire, and had fourteen children
(see JOHNSTONE,) whose third son, Sir William Johnstone Pulteney, father
of Henrietta Laura Pulteney, created in 1803 countess of Bath, died one of
the richest subjects of Great Britain, 31st May 1805, aged
eighty-five.
The eldest son, Patrick, fifth lord, a learned and accomplished nobleman,
was born in February 1703, and admitted advocate June 22, 1723, but not
with any view of practising at the bar. The same year he entered the army,
and in 1740, five years after he had succeeded to the title, with the rank
of lieutenant-colonel he accompanied the expedition under Lord Cathcart to
Carthagena, of which he wrote an account, still, we believe, remaining in
manuscript in the library of the Board of Trade. After residing for some
years in Cambridgeshire, his lordship returned to Edinburgh where he spent
the latter period of his life. By the literati of that city he was much
esteemed for the acuteness of his understanding, the agreeableness of his
manners, and the extent and variety of his information. When Dr. Johnson
visited Edinburgh in 1773, Lord Elibank addressed a letter to him, and he
had afterwards various conversations with the learned lexicographer, all
of which are duly recorded by Boswell in his “Tour to the Hebrides.” In
politics his lordship belonged to the party in opposition to the
government, and he is now known to have maintained a secret correspondence
with the exiled house of Stuart. He married in early life the Dowager Lady
North and Grey, daughter of Cornelius de Young, lord of Elmeet, in
Holland; and died, without legitimate issue, August 3, 1778, in the
seventy-sixth year of his age.
He
was the author of various publications, namely:
Thoughts on Money Circulation, and Paper Currency. Edin. 1758.
Inquiry into the Origin and Consequences of the Public Debts. Edin. 1759.
Queries, relating to the proposed Plan for altering Entails in Scotland.
Edin. 1765.
A
Letter to Lord Hailes, on his Remarks on the History of Scotland. Edin.
1773.
Considerations on the present state of the Peerage in Scotland. Edin.
1774. This work related to the mode of electing the representative Scots
peers, and attracted considerable notice at the time of its publication.
George, sixth lord, born in 1706, an officer in the navy, was commander of
the Trial sloop of war, one of the squadron under Commodore Anson, which
in 1740 made the circumnavigation of the globe. At Madiera he was promoted
to the Wager frigate with the rank of captain, 3d November, 1740, and in
the following February he removed to the Pearl of 40 guns, but separating
from the squadron in a gale of wind, off Cape Noir, he put back to the
Brazils and returned to England. After having had the command of the
Hampshire of 50 guns and the Revenge of 70. He was, in 1756, placed on the
list of superannuated rear-admirals. In 1778 he succeeded his brother in
the title and estates of Elibank, and died 12th November 1785.
By his wife, Lady Isabel Mackenzie, eldest daughter of th attainted earl
of Cromartie, he had two daughters; Maria, married to Edward Hay, Esq, of
Newhall, brother of George, eighth marquis of Tweeddale; and Isabella,
unmarried. On inheriting the Cromartie estates through their mother, they
assumed the additional name of Mackenzie, as did also the husband of the
elder daughter, Mr. Edward Hay. The sixth lord dying without male issue,
the title devolved upon his nephew, Alexander, elder son of the Hon.
Gideon Murray, D.D., prebendary of Durham, third son of the fourth lord.
Alexander, seventh lord, born 24th April 1747, an officer in
the 3d regiment of foot-guards, previous to his succeeding his uncle, was
M.P. for the county of Peebles. He was lord-lieutenant of that county and
colonel of its local militia. He died 24th September 1820. He
was twice married: first to his cousin-german, Mary-Clara-Montolieu,
daughter of Baron de St. Hypolite, by whom he had three sons and two
daughters; and, secondly, to Catherine, daughter of JAMES Stewart, Esq.,
by whom he had three sons and four daughters. The Hon. George Murray, his
third son by his first wife, was auditor of the exchequer in Scotland.
James, his eldest son by his second marriage, an advocate at the Scottish
bar, was killed at Borneo, 17th December 1844, aged
thirty-four.
The eldest son, Alexander, eighth lord, born 26th February
1780, married 8th March 1803, Janet, daughter and heiress of
John Oliphant of Bachilton, Perthshire, styled Lord Oliphant, by whom he
had sic sons and eight daughters. He died 9th April 1830. His
second son, The Hon. John Oliphant Murray, born 3d July 1808, is
chamberlain to the king of Bavaria, and knight Grand Cross of the order of
St. Michael of Merit.
The eldest son, Alexander-Oliphant, ninth lord, born 23d May 1804, married
August 6th 1838, Emily Maria, only daughter of Archibald
Montgomery, Esq., and niece of Sir James Montgomery of Stanhope, baronet,
and has two sons and two daughters. The elder son, the Hon. Montolieu Fox
Murray, master of Elibank, was born in Edinburgh in 1840. |
