James Murray

Lieutenant-General James Murray (19 March 1734 – 19 March 1794) was a Scottish soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1773 to 1794.

Background and education A member of Clan Murray, he was the second son of Lord George Murray, fifth son of John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl. His mother was Amelia, daughter and heiress of James Murray, a surgeon, of Strowan. John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl and George Murray were his brothers; his uncle Lord John Murray, later his commanding officer, was his godfather. Murray's father had been attainted and exiled for taking part in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and in 1749 James joined him in the Netherlands. He was educated at Utrecht and Besançon.

Military and political career Murray's father obtained a commission for him as a lieutenant of the Saxon Army's Grenadier Guards, with a two-year leave to complete his studies. Taking up his commission in 1751, he served in the Seven Years' War, battling the Prussians until the capitulation that followed the Siege of Pirna. He supported Lord North's administration. he was appointed the colonel of the Atholl Highlanders, newly raised by the Duke of Atholl, on 16 May 1778. He commanded them in Ireland until the regiment was disbanded in 1783. In 1780, Murray was appointed Governor of Fort William. During his later years in Parliament he supported William Pitt the Younger. He became a major general in 1782, and on the disbanding of the Atholl Highlanders, was appointed lieutenant-colonel commandant of the 78th Highlanders. He was appointed their colonel when they were renumbered the 72nd in 1786, and was made a lieutenant general in 1793.

Personal life Murray died unmarried on his 60th birthday in 1794.