Robert Moray
Sir Robert Moray P.R.S. (? - July 4,1673), was a Scottish polymath.
The son of Sir Mungo Murray, he attended the University of St Andrews and continued his education in France, where he joined the army of Louis XIII, reaching the rank of colonel. He made friends with Cardinal Richelieu. He returned to Scotland and became General of Ordnance in the Covenanter Army which invaded England in 1641 and was in charge of the Scottish Army at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where on May 20 several Freemasons who were members of the Lodge of Edinburgh initiated him into Freemasonry. Although he was initiated into a Scottish lodge, as the event took place south of the Scottish border, the record of the event is the earliest extant record of a man being initiated into speculative Freemasonry on English soil. He regularly used the five pointed star, his masonic mark, on his correspondence. He was knighted by Charles I on January 10 1643.
He fought in Mazarin's Army in Germany and was imprisoned in Bavaria. Appointed Colonel of the Scotch Regiment at this time, he was also nominated by the Scots to negotiate with France. Once his release from Bavaria was secured he returned to England. By 1646 he was with Charles I and the Scottish army in Newcastle where he arranged for the King to escape in disguise, but Charles backed out at the last minute fearing to be discovered in a ridiculous situation.
During the Commonwealth period Moray lived abroad; he was in Bruges in 1656, then in Maastricht until 1659. Following the restoration of Charles II, Moray became the first President of the Royal Society at its first formal meeting on November 28, 1660 and was influential in gaining its Royal Charter and formulating its statutes and regulations.
He married Sophia Lindsay, daughter of Sir David Lindsay, 12th Earl of Crawford. Following her death, he became a recluse, except for attending philosophical meetings, and devoted most of his time to chemical experiments.
Moray had a range of notable friends: Samuel Pepys, Thomas Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, John Evelyn and Gilbert Burnet.
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