Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank (1703–1778) was a Scottish soldier, lawyer, author and economist.

Life

He was the son of Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank (1677-1736), and his wife Elizabeth (née Stirling; died 1756), daughter of George Stirling of Keir, and an eminent surgeon in Edinburgh. General James Murray (1721-1794) was his younger brother; as was Alexander Murray, who gained some notoriety as a Jacobite, not least during the 1750

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

. He was uncle of Major

Patrick Ferguson Patrick Ferguson (1744 – 7 October 1780) was a Scottish officer in the British Army, an early advocate of light infantry and the designer of the Ferguson rifle. He is best known for his service in the 1780 military campaign of Charles C ...

killed at the

Battle of King's Mountain The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the Southern Campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took pla ...

in 1780. Although admitted a member of the

Faculty of Advocates The Faculty of Advocates is an independent body of lawyers who have been admitted to practise as advocates before the courts of Scotland, especially the Court of Session and the High Court of Justiciary. The Faculty of Advocates is a constitu ...

in 1722, he soon turned from legal to military pursuits, becoming an ensign in the army, and subsequently major in Ponsonby's foot and lieutenant-colonel in Wynyard's marines. With the latter regiment he served at the

Battle of Cartagena de Indias The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ( es, Sitio de Cartagena de Indias, lit=Siege of Cartagena de Indias) took place during the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear between Spanish Empire, Spain and Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain. The result of lo ...

in 1740. After the failure of that expedition Murray quit the army. He had married in 1735, and had succeeded his father as

Lord Elibank Lord Elibank, of Ettrick Forest in the County of Selkirk, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1643 for Patrick Murray, 1st Lord Elibank, Sir Patrick Murray, 1st Baronet, with remainder to his heirs male whatsoever. He had alr ...

the next year. Returning to Scotland, he associated chiefly with the members of the legal profession, among whom he had been brought up, and seems to have been very popular ; but his chief interests were literary. He was long in intimate relations with

Lord Kames Henry Home, Lord Kames (169627 December 1782) was a Scottish writer, philosopher, advocate, judge, and agricultural improver. A central figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, a founding member of the Philosophical Society of Edinburgh, and act ...

and

David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; 7 May 1711 NS (26 April 1711 OS) – 25 August 1776) Cranston, Maurice, and Thomas Edmund Jessop. 2020 999br>David Hume" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 18 May 2020. was a Scottish Enlightenment philo ...

, and the three were regarded in Edinburgh as a committee of taste in literary matters, from whose judgment there was no appeal. He was the early patron of Dr. Robertson, and of

John Home Rev John Home FRSE (13 September 1722 – 4 September 1808) was a Scottish minister, soldier and author. His play ''Douglas'' was a standard Scottish school text until the Second World War, but his work is now largely neglected. In 1783 he wa ...

the tragic poet, both of whom were at one time ministers of country parishes near his seat in East Lothian. Upon the accession of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

, Elibank, like many other

Jacobites Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometime ...

, rallied to the house of Hanover ; and when

Lord Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

came into power it was determined to bring him into the House of Lords. This plan was, however, foiled by a severely sarcastic article by Wilkes in the ''North Briton'' on his presumed services to the Pretender. Wilkes had been an unsuccessful candidate for the governorship of Canada when that office was conferred on Elibank's brother, General James Murray. When in Scotland in 1773, Dr. Johnson paid Elibank a visit at his house of Ballencrieff Castle,

Haddingtonshire East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

. He was member of the Cocoa Tree Club and

The Poker Club The Poker Club was one of several clubs at the heart of the Scottish Enlightenment where many associated with that movement met and exchanged views in a convivial atmosphere. History The Poker Club was created in 1762 out of the ashes of The S ...

. His

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

address in his final years is given as James Court on the Lawnmarket.''Post-Office Edinburgh & Leith directory''. 1775. Edinburgh: Postmaster General. Elibank died at Ballencrieff on 3 August 1778.

Family

He was married in 1735 to Maria Margaretta, daughter of Cornelis de Jonge van Ellemeet, receiver-general of the United Provinces, and widow of

William North, 6th Baron North William North, 6th Baron North and 2nd Baron Grey (22 December 1678 – 31 October 1734), known as Lord North and Grey, was an English soldier and Jacobite, and a peer for more than forty years. He had the right to sit in the House of Lords be ...

; but there was no issue of the marriage. Lady Elibank's jointure-house was Kirtling Park,

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, the ancient seat of the North family, now pulled down, and there she and Elibank often resided. She died in 1762.

Works

Elibank's works were : * ''Thoughts on Money Circulation and Paper Currency,'' Edinburgh, 1758. * ''Queries relating to the proposed Plan of altering the Entails in Scotland,'' Edinburgh, 1765. * ''Letter to Lord Hailes on his Remarks on the History of Scotland,'' Edinburgh, 1773. * ''Considerations on the present State of the Peerage of Scotland,'' Edinburgh, 1774, in which he attacked with much warmth the mode of electing Scottish peers to the House of Lords.

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Patrick Scottish economists 1703 births 1778 deaths Members of the Faculty of Advocates Scottish soldiers 18th-century Scottish writers People of the Scottish Enlightenment Elibank, Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Westminster, Patrick Murray, 2nd Earl of nl:Cornelis de Jonge van Ellemeet