James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon


James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon , styled as Lord James Murray until 1821, was a British Army officer, Member of Parliament and peer.

Life

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.
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 with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers. 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.
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

On 19 May 1810 Murray married Lady Emily Frances Percy, a daughter of General Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Covent Garden, London. They had four children: