Andrew Graham Murray, 1st Viscount Dunedin, (21 November 1849 – 21 August 1942) was a Scottish politician and judge. He served as
Secretary for Scotland 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 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](_blank)
/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 King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...
.
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 countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...
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 ...
in 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
His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...
and sworn of the Privy Council. 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 statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As foreign secretary in the ...
became Prime Minister in 1902, but the following year he succeeded Lord Balfour of Burleigh as Secretary for Scotland, 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 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 ...
. 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 Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
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 Stua ...
between 1901 and 1905. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order 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) Regime ...
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
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{{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