Lord George Murray (4 October 1694 – 11 October 1760) was a Scottish army officer. The sixth son of John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl, he took part in the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1719 and played a senior role in that of 1745.
Pardoned in 1725, he returned to Scotland, where he married and in 1739 took the oath of allegiance to George II. When the 1745 rising began, Murray was appointed sheriff depute to Sir John Cope, government commander in Scotland but then joined the Jacobite Army when it arrived in Perth on 3 September and was promoted to lieutenant general. As one of the Jacobite army's senior commanders, he made a substantial contribution to their early success, particularly reaching and returning from Derby.
However, his support for the 1707 Union set him apart from the majority of Scottish Jacobites, and previous links with the government meant that many viewed him with suspicion: combined with a perceived arrogance and inability to accept advice, this reduced his military effectiveness. Following the Battle of Culloden in April 1746, Murray went into exile in Europe and was excluded from the 1747 Act of Indemnity. He died in the Dutch town of Medemblik in 1760, and his eldest son, John, later became the 3rd Duke of Atholl.
Lord George Murray was born on 4 October 1694, at Huntingtower Castle near Perth, sixth son of John Murray, Duke of Atholl (1660–1724) and his first wife, Katherine Hamilton (1662–1707). As a younger son, 'Lord' was a courtesy title.
In June 1728, he married Amelia (1710–1766), daughter of James Murray of Strowan and Glencarse. They had three sons and two daughters who survived to adulthood; John, later 3rd Duke of Atholl (1729–1774), Amelia (1732–1777), James (1734–19 March 1794), later a Major-General in the British army, Charlotte (?–1773) and George (1741–1797), who became an admiral in the Royal Navy.
Murray was educated at Perth Academy. He entered Glasgow University in 1711 but left to join the British Army in Flanders, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in March 1712. The War of the Spanish Succession was in its closing stages, and it is unlikely he saw any action before it ended with the Peace of Utrecht in 1713.
On returning to Britain, Murray based himself in London, conducting business on behalf of his father. In this capacity, he arranged for German miners to be brought over to work in the mines on the Duke's holdings at Blairingone in Kinross-shire and Solsgirth in Clackmannanshire.
Queen Anne died in August 1714 and was succeeded by the Hanoverian George I, with the Whigs taking power. Deprived of office, several senior Tories defected to the Jacobite cause, including the Earl of Mar. In September 1715, he launched a rebellion in Scotland.
Like many other members of the nobility, Atholl sought to avoid direct participation himself, while balancing the two causes. His eldest son James fought for the government, although Murray joined the Jacobite army, along with his brothers Tullibardine (1689–1746) and Lord Charles (1691–1720). Atholl wrote letters to all three, forbidding them to participate in the Rebellion, which he later produced as evidence of his loyalty.
Lord Charles was captured at Preston; Tullibardine fought at Sheriffmuir, but Lord George missed the battle, as he was collecting taxes in Fife. While Sheriffmuir was inconclusive, without external support the Rebellion collapsed; Lord Charles, who held a commission in the 5th Dragoons, was tried as a deserter and sentenced to be shot. Although he was pardoned, his brothers were excluded and fled to France.
In 1717, the Murrays were involved in efforts to gain support for an invasion from Sweden, then in dispute with Hanover over Pomerania. This was resurrected as part of the 1719 Rebellion, whose main component was a Spanish landing in South-West England; its objective was to capture Inverness, and enable a Swedish naval expeditionary force to disembark. Charles XII of Sweden died in November 1718, ending any hope of Swedish support, and the entire purpose of the Scottish uprising.
Tullibardine and Lord George arrived in Stornoway in April 1719, where they met up with other exiles, including 300 Spanish marines under George Keith. The rebellion collapsed after defeat in the Battle of Glenshiel on 10 June; Lord George was wounded, and later escaped to Rotterdam. This seemed to end hopes of a Stuart restoration; in a letter of 16 June 1719 to the Earl of Mar, Tullibardine concluded 'it bid fair to ruin the King's Interest and faithful subjects in these parts.' Senior leaders like Bolingbroke and the Earl of Seaforth were allowed home, while James and George Keith became Prussian officers. This partially explains the post-1746 bitterness towards those like Murray and Lochiel, pardoned for their roles in 1715 and 1719.
Murray's activities over the next four years are obscure, but included attending the Académie royale des sciences de Paris and fighting a duel with fellow Jacobite exile Campbell of Glendaruel. It has also been suggested he unsuccessfully applied for commissions in the Venetian and Savoyard armies. He returned to Scotland in 1724 to visit his dying father; he was pardoned the next year, married and leased a small country estate from his brother James. He seemed to have ended support for the Stuart cause and rejected suggestions his eldest son be educated in France, sending him to Eton instead. In 1739, he swore the Oath of Allegiance to George II although he later claimed this was purely to help his half-brothers be elected as MPs for Perthshire.
After Charles landed on Eriskay in July 1745, accompanied by the now elderly and sick Tullibardine, Murray was appointed sheriff depute for Perthshire and advisor to the government commander Sir John Cope. To the surprise of both sides, he joined the Jacobites when they reached Perth on 3 September, writing a letter of self-justification to his elder brother the Duke of Atholl.
His reasons remain obscure; at the time, he cited the government's "corruption and bribery" and "wars all entered into for and on account of the Electors of Hanover" as necessitating "a Revolution to secure our liberties". In a letter written after the Rising, Murray said it was his "greatest honour [...] to suffer in so just and upright a cause" and complained "most people in Britain now regard neither probity nor any other virtue — all is selfish".
Accepting a pardon in 1725, swearing allegiance to George II in 1739 and taking a position under the same 'corrupt government' meant others viewed his actions as the opposite of virtuous and honest, including his eldest son. Many Jacobites were also suspicious and while his knowledge of Highland military customs was an asset, Murray's appointment heightened tensions with the Franco-Irish exiles. The most important was John O'Sullivan, a former French officer acting as chief of staff.
There were various reasons for the poor relationships between the senior commanders, one being a generalised Scottish resentment of the exiles, who were perceived as risking relatively little. The Scots faced execution as rebels and loss of titles and lands; as many of the exiles held French commissions, they would be treated as prisoners of war and exchanged. Another was Murray's poorly concealed view Charles was a 'reckless adventurer.'
Murray considered O'Sullivan's expectations of the Highland recruits unrealistic, including formal drill and enacting written orders, while the exiles viewed this as outdated. There was some truth in both positions; many Scots served in European armies, while a second battalion of the Royal Ecossaise was raised in Perth and performed well. However, these came from the relatively urbanised Lowlands; the military aspects of clan society had been in decline for over a century and most Highland recruits were illiterate farmworkers.