John Murray, 1st Earl of Annandale (died 1640) was a Scottish courtier and Member of Parliament.

Career

He was known as John Murray of Lochmaben or

Lincluden Lincluden Collegiate Church, known earlier as Lincluden Priory or Lincluden Abbey (the name by which it is still known locally), is a ruined religious house, situated in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire and to the north of the Royal Bu ...

, and John Murray of the Bedchamber. John Murray was the 6th surviving son of Sir Charles Murray (d. 1605) of Cockpool, Dumfries and Margaret Somerville, a daughter of

Hugh Somerville, 5th Lord Somerville Hugh Somerville, 5th Lord Somerville (c. 1484 – 1549) was a lord of the Parliament of Scotland. He is sometimes reckoned to be the 4th Lord Somerville. He succeeded his brother, John Somerville, 4th Lord Somerville. Hugh and John were sons of ...

. He served as a page to

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and Eng ...

before becoming a Groom of the Bedchamber to James VI of Scotland. He moved to London with James in 1603 when he became James I of England at the

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...

. Murray became a conduit for Scottish royal business at court. A number of letters and petitions addressed to him survive in the National Library of Scotland. Murray was rewarded with properties in England. On 22 May 1605 he was granted Plumpton Park in Hesket in the Forest of Inglewood, then regarded as part of

Debatable Lands The Debatable Lands, also known as debatable ground, batable ground or threip lands,. lay between Scotland and England. It was formerly in question as to which it belonged when they were distinct kingdoms. The name either signifies litigious or ...

between Scotland and England. Thomas Musgrave of

Bewcastle Bewcastle is a large civil parish in the City of Carlisle district of Cumbria, England. It is in the historic county of Cumberland. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 411, reducing to 391 at the 2011 Census. The pari ...

, the owner of Plumpton, resisted this grant. In October 1605 Murray was awarded a yearly pension of 200 marks, as a servant of the queen. In July 1609 the king gave him £100 to repair an old priory,

Guildford Black Friary Guildford Black Friary was a medieval monastic house in Surrey, England. 1272-1538 A house of Dominican friars was founded in Guildford, by right, by Queen Eleanor of Provence (died 1291), at some time after the death of her husband Henry ...

, near the royal park at Guildford. He was naturalised as a denizen of English in 1610. He became

Keeper of the Privy Purse The Keeper of the Privy Purse and Treasurer to the King/Queen (or Financial Secretary to the King/Queen) is responsible for the financial management of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The officeholder is assisted by th ...

in 1611 in the place of

Robert Jousie Robert Jousie (or Joussie or Jowsie or Jossie; died 1626) was a Scottish merchant, financier, and courtier. Life Jousie was a cloth merchant based in Edinburgh with a house on the High Street or Royal Mile. He became an exclusive supplier of fa ...

, a textile merchant and partner of the goldsmith

Thomas Foulis Thomas Foulis ( fl. 1580–1628) was a Scottish goldsmith, mine entrepreneur, and royal financier. Thomas Foulis was an Edinburgh goldsmith and financier, and was involved in the mint and coinage, gold and lead mining, and from May 1591 the receip ...

Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Elizabeth Stuart (19 August 159613 February 1662) was Electress of the Palatinate and briefly Queen of Bohemia as the wife of Frederick V of the Palatinate. Since her husband's reign in Bohemia lasted for just one winter, she is called the Win ...

wrote to him from

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

in June 1613.

Abraham Harderet Abraham Harderet ( fl. 1604-1625), goldsmith and jeweller to Elizabeth I of England and Anne of Denmark Career Abraham Harderet was the son of Martin Harderet and Rachel Fontaine or Le Maçon, daughter of Robert le Maçon, Sieur de la Fontaine, ...

brought the letter, which explained that she had been obliged to buy jewels from him to give as gifts at her wedding, many more than she could pay for, and he could show Murray the bills she had signed. She wanted to Murray to arrange it so the Chancellor of the Exchequer would pay Harderet. She would not trouble Murray or the king again, except only for her servants, and she sent a list of her household. Abraham Harderet was

's jeweller, and had travelled with Elizabeth to Germany. In 1621 he became Member of Parliament for Guildford, and bought

Tyninghame House Tyninghame House is a mansion in East Lothian, Scotland. It is located by the mouth of the River Tyne, east of Tyninghame, and west of Dunbar. There was a manor at Tyninghame in 1094, and it was later a property of the Lauder of The Bass fami ...

in East Lothian from the Lauder family for 200,000

merks The merk is a long-obsolete Scottish silver coin. Originally the same word as a money mark of silver, the merk was in circulation at the end of the 16th century and in the 17th century. It was originally valued at 13 shillings 4 pence (exactly ...

. In 1622 he was promoted to Gentleman of the Bedchamber. The Marquess of Hamilton praised him in a letter to the

Marquess of Buckingham Marquess of Buckingham may refer to: * George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (1592–1628) Marquess of Buckingham from 1618 until elevated to Duke of Buckingham in 1623 * George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham (1753–1813), ...

, writing that he "is a very safe man, and I must say a zealous servant of yours". King James made him Lord Lochmaben and Viscount Annand in the peerage of Scotland then Charles I made him

Earl of Annandale Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...

, also in the peerage of Scotland. In September 1623, Prince Charles came to his at Guildford on his return from the Spanish Match. Murray continued as Groom of the Bedchamber to

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

. He was also Constable and Keeper of

Falkland Palace Falkland Palace, in Falkland, Fife, Scotland, is a royal palace of the Scottish Kings. It was one of the favourite places of Mary, Queen of Scots, providing an escape from political and religious turmoil. Today it is under the stewardship of ...

and the

Lomond Hills The Lomond Hills (meaning either beacon hills or bare hills), also known outside the locality as the Paps of Fife, are a range of hills in central Scotland. They lie in western central Fife and Perth and Kinross, Scotland. At West Lomond is t ...

. Andrew Murray of Balvaird advised him that the back galleries of the Palace were decayed in 1615. In 1639 Balvaird helped him repair the keeper's house at Falkland, called the Castlestead or Nether Palace of Falkland. Many letters to Murray from Scottish correspondents survive, mostly on political and church business. He delivered letters from

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

to the king. William Couper,

Bishop of Galloway The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th ...

asked him to buy saddles for his wife and daughter, because they were much cheaper in London. The lawyer Thomas Hamilton advised him about the ownership of a hoard of gold coins found by a tenant on his lands near Lincluden. He married Elizabeth Schaw, niece of

William Schaw William Schaw (c. 1550–1602) was Master of Works to James VI of Scotland for building castles and palaces, and is claimed to have been an important figure in the development of Freemasonry in Scotland. Biography William Schaw was the second ...

, and lady-in-waiting to

, and had with her a son and a daughter. His son James (d. 1658), later Earl of Annandale and Viscount Stormont, was baptised in the Chapel Royal at Holyrood Palace on 19 August 1617, William Couper preached and

Anne Livingstone Anne Livingstone, Countess of Eglinton (died 1632) was a Scottish courtier and aristocrat, and lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth and Anne of Denmark. Anne Livingstone was a daughter of Alexander Livingstone, 1st Earl of Linlithgow and Heleno ...

, Countess of Eglinton, presented the child.David Calderwood, ''History of the Kirk of Scotland'', vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1845), p. 277
/ref> He died in 1640.

References

* se

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annandale, John Murray, 1st Earl of 1640 deaths 17th-century Scottish people Earls in the Peerage of Scotland 01John Court of James VI and I Peers of Scotland created by James VI Clan Murray People from Dumfries People from Westminster People from Surrey English MPs 1621–1622 Members of the Convention of the Estates of Scotland 1630 Year of birth missing