Andrew Graham Murray, 1st Viscount Dunedin, (21 November 1849 – 21 August 1942) was a Scottish politician and judge. He served as

Secretary for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom ga, Rialtas a Shoi ...

between 1903 and 1905, as

Lord Justice General Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

and

Lord President of the Court of Session The Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General is the most senior judge in Scotland, the head of the judiciary, and the presiding judge of the College of Justice, the Court of Session, and the High Court of Justiciary. The L ...

between 1905 and 1913 and as a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

between 1913 and 1932.

Background and education

Murray was the son of Thomas Graham Murray WS LLD (1816-1891) and Caroline Jane Tod, daughter of John Tod.thepeerage.com Andrew Graham Murray, 1st Viscount Dunedin
/ref> His father and grandfather were solicitors, and founding partners of the Edinburgh firm Tods Murray & Jamieson. He was educated at Harrow and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

Political and legal career, 1891–1905

Murray was called to the Scottish Bar in 1874 and became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1891. The latter year he was also elected Member of Parliament for Bute, a seat he held until 1905, and appointed

Solicitor General for Scotland , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Ruth Charteris QC.png , incumbent = Ruth Charteris KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , department = Crown Office and ...

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

's Conservative administration. The Conservatives lost power in 1892 but when they returned to office in 1895 under Salisbury, Murray was once again made Solicitor-General for Scotland. In 1896 he was promoted to

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

and sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. He remained as Lord Advocate when

Arthur Balfour Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (, ; 25 July 184819 March 1930), also known as Lord Balfour, was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As F ...

became Prime Minister in 1902, but the following year he succeeded

Lord Balfour of Burleigh Lord Balfour of Burleigh, in the County of Kinross, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1607 for Sir Michael Balfour. He was succeeded by his daughter, Margaret, his only child. She married Robert Arnot, who assumed the su ...

, with a seat in the cabinet. In 1900 he was living at 7 Rothesay Terrace in Edinburgh's fashionable West End.

Judicial career, 1905–1932

Murray left the government and parliament in February 1905, on being appointed

and

. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Dunedin, of Stenton in the County of Perth, on 9 March 1905. He held these posts until 1913, when he was appointed a

. During his tenure as a Law Lord he gave long majority judgments in cases including Metropolitan Water Board v Dick Kerr & Co Ltd concerning frustration and Tredegar v. Harwood concerning a landlord's liability to insure premises, Ellerman Lines Ltd v Murray on employment law and excessive reliance on a preamble or draft international instrument, Sorrel v Smith concerning the tort of conspiracy to interfere with a trade or calling, Leyland Shipping Co Ltd v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd on causation in tort,

Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage & Motor Co Ltd is an English contract law case, concerning the extent to which damages may be sought for failure to perform of a contract when a sum is fixed in a contract. It held that only if a sum is of an unconscionable amount will it be considered penal ...

on penalty clauses and Plumb v Cobden Flour Mills Co Ltd on employer's liability. In 1923 he was chairman of the Political Honours Review Committee. He retired as a Law Lord in 1932. Apart from his legal and political career, Lord Dunedin was Sheriff of Perthshire between 1890 and 1891 and

Lord Lieutenant of Buteshire This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Buteshire. The post was established in 1794 and abolished in 1975, being replaced by the Lord Lieutenant of Argyll and Bute and the Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire and Arran. *John Stuart ...

between 1901 and 1905. He was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

in 1908 and a

Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

in 1922. In 1926 he was further honoured when he was made Viscount Dunedin, of Stenton in the County of Perth.

Family

Lord Dunedin was twice married. He married firstly Mary Clementina, daughter of Admiral

Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet Admiral Sir William Edmonstone, 4th Baronet CB, DL (29 January 1810 – 18 February 1888), also 14th of Duntreath, was a Scottish naval commander, courtier and Conservative politician. Life Born at Hampton, Edmonstone joined the Royal Navy in ...

, in 1874. They had one son and two daughters. After Mary's death in December 1922 he married secondly Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay, secretary of the Scottish War Savings Committee in WW1, and daughter of George Findlay, in 1923. They had no children. His only son the Hon. Ronald Thomas Graham Murray (1875–1934) was a major in the

Black Watch The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. The regiment was created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881, when the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment ...

and fought in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. However, he died married but childless in September 1934, aged 59, predeceasing his father by eight years. Lord Dunedin died in August 1942, aged 92. As he had no surviving male issue both his titles became extinct on his death.

References

;Notes ;Sources * * Torrance, David, ''The Scottish Secretaries'' (Birlinn 2006)

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunedin, Andrew Murray, 1st Viscount 1849 births 1942 deaths Judges educated at British public schools Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Lord-Lieutenants of Buteshire Murray, Andrew Scottish lawyers Lord Advocates Scottish sheriffs Solicitors General for Scotland Murray, Andrew Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Murray, Andrew Murray, Andrew Murray, Andrew Murray, Andrew UK MPs who were granted peerages Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Law lords Lords President of the Court of Session Lords Justice-General

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

Politics of the county of Bute Peers created by Edward VII Viscounts created by George V People educated at Harrow School