Charles Murray, 7th Earl of Dunmore

Charles Adolphus Murray, 7th Earl of Dunmore VD DL (24 March 1841 – 27 August 1907), styled Viscount Fincastle from birth until 1845, was a British Conservative politician, explorer, author, aristocrat and artist.

Early life He was born in London on 24 March 1841. He was the only son of Alexander Murray, 6th Earl of Dunmore and his wife, Lady Catherine Herbert. His three sisters were Lady Susan Murray (wife of the 9th Earl of Southesk), and Lady Victoria Murray (wife of Rev. Henry Cunliffe).

His paternal grandparents were George Murray, 5th Earl of Dunmore and Lady Susan Hamilton (a daughter of the 9th Duke of Hamilton). His maternal grandparents were Gen. George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke, and the Russian noblewoman Countess Catherine Woronzoff (or Vorontsova), daughter of the Russian ambassador to St James's, Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov.

On 16 July 1845, four year old Charles succeeded his father as Earl of Dunmore. He received his education at Eton College.

Career "Charlie". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1878. He travelled to North America to observe the American Civil War with a number of other British officers. He then travelled at least as far as southern Manitoba and painted a number of watercolours across the United States and Canada.

In 1874, he was appointed a Lord-in-waiting in Disraeli's government, a post he held until 1880.

In 1883, the Canadian Pacific Railway named Dunmore, Alberta in his honour.

In 1892 to 1893, Lord Dunmore travelled through the eastern Pamirs to Kashgar. He was engaged in some form of diplomacy or espionage but the matter is not clear.

Personal life On 5 April 1866, Lord Dunmore married Lady Gertrude Coke, third daughter of Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and Juliana Whitbread (a daughter of Samuel Charles Whitbread). Together, they had six children: who married Lucinda Dorothea Kemble, daughter of Col. Horace William Kemble, in 1904. and was succeeded in his titles by his only son, Alexander.

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