James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl

The 2nd Duke of Atholl.

James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl KT PC (28 September 1690 – 8 January 1764), styled Marquess of Tullibardine between 1715 and 1746, was a Scottish peer.

Background

Atholl was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the third son of the John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl, by Lady Catherine, daughter of William Hamilton, Duke of Hamilton.

Career

Atholl was Whig Member of Parliament for Perthshire from 1715 to 1724 and was elected a Scottish Representative Peer in 1733. In 1734 he was made a Knight of the Thistle. In 1736 he succeeded as 7th Baron Strange and to the Lordship of Mann through his grandmother. He served as Governor of the Isle of Man from 1736 to 1744. He was also a founding Governor of the Foundling Hospital, established in 1739 to alleviate London's problem with abandoned children, and a patron of Niel Gow, the Scottish fiddler and composer.^{[citation needed]}

Family

Atholl married firstly Jane, daughter of Thomas Frederick, on 28 April 1726. They had four children:

• John Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine (1728–1729), died in infancy.
• Lady Jane Murray (c. 1730–1747)
• Lady Charlotte Murray (1731–1805)
• James Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine (1735–1736), died in infancy.

After his first wife's death in 1748 he married secondly Jean, daughter of John Drummond, 10th of Lennoch, on 7 May 1749, in Edinburgh. There were no children from this marriage. Atholl died in 1764, aged 73 at Dunkeld, Scotland, and was buried at Inveresk. He was succeeded by in the barony of Strange by his daughter, Lady Charlotte and in the Scottish titles by his nephew, John, the son of George Murray, a general in the Jacobite Rising which the second Duke did not join.

References

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Lord James Murray	Member for Perthshire 1715–1724	Succeeded by David Graeme
Political offices
Preceded by The Duke of Argyll	Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland 1733–1763	Succeeded by Hon. James Stuart-Mackenzie
Preceded by The Duke of Queensbury	Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland 1763–1764	Succeeded by The Earl of Marchmont
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by John Murray	Duke of Atholl 1724–1764	Succeeded by John Murray
Peerage of England
Preceded by James Stanley	Baron Strange 1736–1764	Succeeded by Charlotte Murray
Head of State of the Isle of Man
Preceded by James Stanley	Lord of Mann 1736–1764	Succeeded by John Murray