George Augustus Frederick John Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl, (20 September 1814 – 16 January 1864) was a Scottish peer, important landowner, and freemason.

Life

Born at

Great Cumberland Place Great Cumberland Place is a street in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, England. There is also a hotel bearing the same name on the street. Description The street runs from Oxford Street at Marble Arch to George Street at Bryans ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, Murray was the son of

James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon Lieutenant-General James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon (29 May 1782 – 12 October 1837), styled as Lord James Murray until 1821, was a Scottish-born British Army officer, Member of Parliament and peer. Life Murray was born in 1782 at Dunkeld, ...

. His father was the second son of

John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl, KT, PC, FRS (30 June 1755 – 29 September 1830), styled Marquess of Tullibardine from 1764 to 1774, was a Scottish peer. Life and career Murray was the eldest son of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl, and his ...

, and his wife Lady Emily Frances Percy, a daughter of

Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant General Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland (14 August 174210 July 1817) was an officer in the British army and later a British peer. He participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord an ...

. In 1837, he succeeded his father as Lord Glenlyon, gaining a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, and also served in the British Army as a lieutenant of the

2nd Dragoon Guards The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several ...

, retiring in 1840. As Lord Glenlyon, he re-formed the

Atholl Highlanders The Atholl Highlanders is a Scottish private infantry regiment. A ceremonial unit, it acts as the personal bodyguard to the Duke of Atholl, chief of the Clan Murray, a family that has lived in Perthshire for roughly seven centuries. Although ...

in 1839 as his personal bodyguard. On 30 August of that year he attended the 13th Earl of Eglinton's tournament in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

in the guise of 'The Knight of the Gael', accompanied by a retinue of his Highlanders. In 1844, when

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

stayed at

Blair Castle Blair Castle (in Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteil Bhlàir'') stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their clan chief, chief, the ...

, the Atholl Highlanders provided the guard for the Queen. So impressed was she with their turnout that she ordered they be presented with

colours Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

, giving them official status, and leading them to be Europe's only legal private army. In 1846, Murray succeeded his uncle

John Murray, 5th Duke of Atholl John Murray, 5th Duke of Atholl (26 June 1778 – 14 September 1846) was a duke in the Peerage of Scotland, a British Army officer and a major landowner in Scotland. Declared insane at the age of twenty, he never sat in the House of Lords. He hel ...

, to the Atholl estates and peerages. The same year, he became a Deputy Lieutenant for

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

and in 1853 was invested as a

Knight of the Thistle The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier order. The ...

. In October 1854, shortly before the death of the Jacobite pretender

Charles Edward Stuart, Count Roehenstart Charles Edward Augustus Maximilian Stuart, Baron Korff, Count Roehenstart ( May 1784 – 28 October 1854) was the Legitimacy (family law), natural son of Ferdinand Maximilien Mériadec de Rohan, Prince Ferdinand of Rohan (1738–1813), Roman Cath ...

, Atholl welcomed him as a guest at

.
The Mystery of Dunkeld
' at essaychief.com, accessed 21 March 2011 He served as 66th Grand Master Mason of Scotland from 1843 to 1863 and was Grand Master of England from 1843 until his death in January 1864.

Personal life

On 29 October 1839, as Lord Glenlyon he married

Anne Home-Drummond Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in t ...

, daughter of Henry Home-Drummond. Atholl died in 1864, aged 49, from cancer of the neck, and was succeeded in his peerages and estates by his only child

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

. The Atholl Memorial Fountain in

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, , from , "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundar ...

is dedicated to his memory.Monument to 6th Duke of Atholl, The Cross, High Street
–

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

Gallery

File:George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl, by John MacLaren Barclay, c. 1855-60, ex. 1862.jpg, In Atholl Highlanders uniform, c. 1855–60, by John MacLaren Barclay File:View of monument of 6th Duke of Atholl from E.jpg, Atholl Memorial Fountain in

File:Memorial to the 6th Duke of Atholl.jpg, Memorial in the ruins of St Bride's Kirk in the grounds of

References

External links

* 1814 births 1864 deaths Nobility from Perth and Kinross Deputy lieutenants of Perthshire

106 106 may refer to: * 106 (number), the number * AD 106, a year in the 2nd century AD * 106 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 106 (emergency telephone number), an Australian emergency number * 106 (MBTA bus), a route of the Massachusetts Bay Transpor ...

Knights of the Thistle

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

Deaths from cancer in Scotland 19th-century Scottish people People of Byzantine descent People of the Victorian era Dukes of Rannoch 411 {{Scotland-duke-stub