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James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon

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Lieutenant-General James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon KCH FRS (29 May 1782 – 12 October 1837), styled as Lord James Murray until 1821, was a Scottish born British Army officer, Member of Parliament and peer.

Life

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Murray was born in 1782 at Dunkeld, Perthshire, the son of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl and his wife the Hon. Jane Cathcart. He was first commissioned into the British Army in 1798 and rose to the rank of Major-General by 1819. In 1807, he was elected Member of Parliament for Perthshire, holding the seat until 1812. He served as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber from 1812 to 1832 and from 1813 to 1819 was also aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent. He was created Baron Glenlyon, of Glenlyon, Perthshire, on 17 July 1821, and was promoted Lieutenant-General in 1837.

He also managed family affairs on behalf of his older brother John Murray, 5th Duke of Atholl, who had been declared insane at age 20.[1]

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Glenlyon was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.8 billion in 2024[2]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015). Glenlyon was associated with "T71/892 St Vincent nos. 492A & B; 497A & B; 498A & B", he owned 610 slaves at Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and received a £15,765 payment at the time (worth £1.89 million in 2024[2]).[3]

Lord Glenlyon died at Fenton's Hotel, St James's Street, London, on 12 October 1837, aged fifty-five, and was buried on 30 October at Dunkeld. He died intestate.

Wife and children

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On 19 May 1810 Murray married Lady Emily Frances Percy (7 January 1789 – 21 June 1844), a daughter of General Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, and his wife, Frances Julia Burrell, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Covent Garden, London. They had four children:[4]

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ Masters, Brian (1988). The Dukes. London: Frederick Muller. ISBN 0-09-173700-1.
  2. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  3. ^ "James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon". University College London. Retrieved on 20 March 2019.
  4. ^ Cokayne et al., eds, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, Volume I (new edition, 1910), page 321
  5. ^ a b c Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999. Page 135.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Perthshire
18071812
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Glenlyon
1821–1837
Succeeded by