The Clan History

The great family of Murray or Moray (occasionally in old deeds Murref) is supposed to have descended from Freskine (or Friskin), a Fleming, who settled in Scotland in the reign of David I (1122-1153), and acquired from that monarch the lands of Strathbroch in Linlithgowshire, and of Duffis in Moray.

Friskin's grandson, William de Moravia, married the daughter and heiress of David de Olifard, and was the ancestor of the Morays of Bothwell and Abercairny, represented by the latter till the death of the late Major William Moray Stirling in 1850, when the male line became extinct, and the property passed to his sister, the late Mrs. Home Drummond of Blair Drummond.

His descendant, the 7th in possession, Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, succeeded to the estates of his family in 1446. He was sheriff of Perthshire, and in 1458 one of the lords named for the administration of justice, who were of the king's daily council. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Colquhoun of Luss, great chamberlain of Scotland, by whom he had numerous issue. According to tradition, they had seventeen sons, from whom a great many families of the name of Murray are descended. In a curious document entitled "The Declaration of George Halley, in Ochterarder, concerning the Laird of Tullibardine's seventeen sons - 1710", it is stated that they "lived all to be men, and that they waited all one day upon their father at Stirling, to attend the king, with each of them one servant, and their father two. This happening shortly after an Act was made by King James Fifth, discharging any person to travel with great numbers of attendants besides their own family, and having challenged the laird of Tullibardine for breaking the said Act, he answered he brought only his own sons, with their necessary attendants; with which the king was so well pleased that he gave them small lands in heritage".

The eldest of Tullibardine's seventeen sons, Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, had, with other issue, William, his successor, and Sir Andrew Murray, ancestor of the Viscounts Stormont. His great-grandson, Sir William Murray of Tullibardine, was a zealous promoter of the Reformation in Scotland. George Halley, in the curious document already quoted, says that "Sir William Murray of Tullibardine having broke Argyll's face with the hilt of his sword, in King James the Sixth's presence, was obliged to leave the kingdom. Afterwards, the king's mails and slaughter cows were not paid, neither could any subject to the realm be able to compel those who were bound to pay them; upon which the king cried out - 'O, If I had Will Murray again, he would soon get my mails and slaughter cows'; to which one standing by replied - 'That if his Majesty would not take Sir William Murray's life, he might return shortly'. The king answered, 'He would be loath to take his life, for he had not another subject like him!'. Upon which promise Sir William Murray returned and got a commission for the king to go to the north, and lift up the mails and the cows, which he speedily did, to the great satisfaction of the king, so that immediately after he was made lord comptroller". This office be obtained in 1565.

His eldest son, Sir John Murray, the twelfth feudal baron of Tullibardine, was brought up with King James, who in 1592 constituted him his master of the household. On 10th July 1606 he was created Earl of Tullibardine. His lordship married Catherine, fourth daughter of David, second Lord Drummond, and died in 1609.

His eldest son, William, second Earl of Tullibardine, married Lady Borothea Stewart, eldest daughter and heir of line of the fifth Earl of Athole of the Stewart family, who died in 1595 without make issue. He eventually, in 1625, petitioned King Charles the First for the earldom of Athole. The king received the petition graciously, and gave his royal word that it should be done. The earl accordingly surrendered the title of Earl of Tullibardine into the king's hands, 1st April 1626, to be conferred on his brother Sir Patrick Murray as a separate dignity, but before the patents could be issued, his lordship died the same year. His son John, however, obtained in February 1629 the title of Earl of Athole, and thus became the first earl of the Murray branch, and the earldom of Tullibardine was at the same time granted to Sir Patrick. This Earl of Athole was a zealous royalist, and joined the association formed by the Earl of Montrose for the king at Cumbernauld, in January 1641. He died in June 1642. His eldest son John, second Earl of Athole of the Murray family, also faithfully adhered to Charles the First, and was excepted by Cromwell out of his act of grace and indemnity, 12th April 1654, when he was only about nineteen years of age. At the Restoration, he was sworn a privy counciller, obtained a charter of the hereditary office of sheriff of Fife, and in 1663 was appointed justice-general of Scotland. In 1670 he was constituted captain of the king's guards, in 1672 keeper of the privy seal, and 14th January 1673, an extraordinary lord of session. In 1670 he succeeded to the earldom of Tullibardine on the death of James, fourth earl of the new creation, and was created Marquis of Athole in 1676. He increased the power of his family by his marriage with Lady Amelia Sophia of Derby, beheaded for his loyalty 15th October 1651. Through her mother, Charlotte de la Tremouille, daughter of Claude de la Tremouille, Duke of Thouars and Prince of Palmont, she was related in blood to the Emperor of Germany, the kings of France and Spain, and most of the principal families of Europe; and by her the family of Athole acquired the seignory of the Isle of Man, and also large property in that island.

John, the second Marquis and first Duke of Athole, then designated Lord Murray, was one of the commissioners for inquiring into the massacre of Glencoe in 1693. He was created a peer in his father's lifetime, by the title of Earl of Tullibardine, Viscount of Glenalmond, and Lord Murray, for life, by patent dated 27th July 1696, and in April 1703 he was appointed lord privy seal. On the 30th July of that year, immediately after his father's death, he was created Duke of Athole by Queen Anne, and invested with the order of the Thistle. His grace died 14th November 1724. He was twice married; first to Catherine, daughter of the Duke of Hamilton, by whom he had six sons and a daughter, and secondly to Mary, daughter of William Lord Ross, by whom he had three sons and a daughter. His eldest son John, Marquis of Tullibardine, was killed at the battle of Malplaquet in 1709. His second son William, who succeeded his brother, was the Marquis of Tullibardine who acted the prominent part in both the Scottish rebellions of last century. In 1745 he accompanied Prince Charles Edward to Scotland, and landed with him at Borodale 25th July. He was styled Duke of Athole by the Jacobites. After the battle of Culloden he fled to the westward, intending to embark for the Isle of Mull, but being unable, from the bad state of his health, to bear the fatigue of travelling under concealment, he surrendered, on the 27th April 1746, to Mr Buchannan of Drummakill, a Stirlingshire gentleman. Being conveyed to London he was committed to the Tower, where he died on the 9th July following.

James, the second Duke of Athole, was the third son of the first duke. He succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his father in November 1724, in the lifetime of his elder brother William, attainted by parliament. Being maternal great-grandson of James, seventh Earl of Derby, upon the death of the tenth earl of that line he claimed and was allowed the English barony of Strange, which had been conferred on Lord Derby by writ of summons in 1628. His grace was married, first to Jean, widow of James Lannoy of Hammersmith, and sister of Sir John Frederick, Bart, by whom he had a son and two daughters; secondly to Jane, daughter of John Drummond of Megginch, who had no issue. The latter was the heroine of Dr Austen's song of 'For lack of gold she's left me, O!@. She was betrothed to that gentleman, a physician in Edinburgh, when the Duke of Athole saw her, and falling in love with her, made proposals of marriage, which were accepted; and, as Burns says, she jilted the doctor. Having survived her first husband, she married a second time, Lord Adam Gordon.

The son and the eldest daughter of the second Duke of Athole died young. Charlotte, his youngest daughter, succeeded on his death, which took place in 1764, to the barony of Strange and the sovereignty of the Isle of Man. She married her cousin, John Murray, Esq., eldest son of Lord George Murray, fifth son of the first duke, and the celebrated generalissimo of the forces of Prince Charles Edward in 1745. Though Lord George was attained by parliament for his share in the rebellion, his son was allowed to succeed his uncle and father-in-law as third duke, and in 1765 he and his duchess disposed of their sovereignty of the Isle of Man to the British government for seventy thousand pounds, reserving, however, their landed interest in the island, with the patronage of the bishopric and other ecclesiastical benefices, on payment of the annual sum of one hundred and one pounds fifteen shillings and eleven pence, and rendering two falcons to the kings and queen of England upon the days of their coronation. His grace, who had seven sons and four daughters, died 5th November 1774, and was succeeded by his eldest son John, fourth duke, who in 1786 was created Earl Strange and Baron Murray of Stanley, in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He died in 1830. The fourth duke was succeeded by his eldest son John, who was for many years a recluse, and died single 14th September 1846. His next brother James, a major-general in the army, was created a peer of the United Kingdom, as baron Glenlyon of Glenlyon, in the county of Perth, 9th July 1821. He married in May 1810, Emily, second daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, and by her he had two sons and two daughters. He died in 1837. His eldest son, George Augustus Frederick John, Lord Glenlyon, became on the death of his uncle in 1846, sixth Duke of Athole. He died in 1864, and was succeeded by his only son, John James Hugh Henry, seventh Duke of Athole, who inherited the barony of Percy and several co-heirships on the death of his great uncle Algeron, fourth Duke of Northumberland in 1865. The family residence of the Duke of Athole is Blair Castle, Perthshire.

The firs baronet of the Ochtertyre family was created William Moray of Ochtertyre, who was created a baron of Nova Scotia, with, remainder to his heirs male, 7th June 1673. He was descended from Patrick Moray, the first styled of Ochtertyre, who died in 1476, a son of Sir David Murray of Tullibardine. The family continued to spell their name Moray till 1739, when the present orthography, Murray, was adopted by Sir William, third baronet.
Motto: Furth, Fortune, and Fill the Fetters - go forth against your enemies, have good fortune, and return with hostages and
booty
Badge: demi-savage holding a sword and a key
Septs of the Clan: Balneaves, Dunbar, Dunsmore, MacMurray, Moray, Neaves, Piper, Rattray, Small, Spalding
Names associated with the clan: Abercairnie Abercairny Athol Atholl Balneaves Buttar Butter Butters Flamanc Flamang Flamench Flamyng Fleeman Fleeming Flemen Fleming Flemmynge Flemyn Flemyne Flemyng Flemynge Fleymen Fleyming Fliming Flymen Flymyng MacKinnoch MacKmurrie MacMurray MacMurre MacMurree MacMurrie MacMurry MacMurrye MacMury Mirrey Monchryf Moncref Moncrefe Moncreife Moncreiff Moncreiffe Moncrief Moncriefe Moncrieff Moncrieffe Moncrif Moncrife Moncriffe Monkreff Monkreth Montcreffe Montcrief Montcrif Moray Morray Mouncref Mowray Mulmurray Mulmury Muncrefe Muncreff Muncreif Muncreiffe Muncreyfe Muncrif Muncrife Munkrethe Muray Murra Murrai Murraue Murray Murrie Murry Mury Neaves Pepper Phylemen Piper Pyper Ratray Ratre Ratteray Rattray Retrey Rettra Rettray Rotray Smail Smaill Smal Smale Small Smalle Smaw Smeal Smeall Spaden Spadine Spaldene Spaldeng Spalding Spaldyn Spaldyng Spaldynge Murray Of Elibank: Elibank MacKmurrie MacMurray MacMurre MacMurree MacMurrie MacMurry MacMurrye MacMury Mirrey Moray Morray Mowray Mulmurray Mulmury Muray Murra Murrai Murraue Murray Murrie Murry Mury Murray Of Tullibardine: MacKmurrie MacMurray MacMurre MacMurree MacMurrie MacMurry MacMurrye MacMury Mirrey Moray Morray Mowray Mulmurray Mulmury Muray Murra Murrai Murraue Murray Murrie Murry Mury Tullibardine