Sir Alexander Murray, 3rd Baronet (after 1684 – 18 May 1743) was a Scottish baronet and politician. He was a son of Sir David Murray (1659–1729) and his first wife, Anne Bruce. Alexander Murray was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Peeblesshire Peeblesshire (), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a Counties of Scotland, historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire ...

from 1710 to 1713. On 16 August 1710 he married Grizel Baillie (1692–1759), the elder daughter of Lady Grisell Baillie of Jerviswood and George Baillie. Although this was a love match, it was a disaster. After the couple had lived a few miserable months under her father's roof, Murray made himself a ‘voluntary outcast’. There was a brief reconciliation in 1711–12, when he was accepted back into the Baillie household, but his behaviour led to a process for separation being instituted against him, and its completion in 1714 seems to have unbalanced him still further. Murray took up arms in the cause of the

Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs or the King over the Water by Jacobites, was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until ...

in the Jacobite Rising of 1715 and was subsequently imprisoned at

Marshalsea The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, ...

until 1717. After his release, he took an interest in the exploitation of mineral deposits on land his father had purchased in

Ardnamurchan Ardnamurchan (, ) is a peninsula in the ward management area of Lochaber, Highland, Scotland, noted for being very unspoiled and undisturbed. Its remoteness is accentuated by the main access route being a single track road for much of its l ...

, ran up substantial debts and lived for a time in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 1735, on learning of the death of George Baillie, he returned to Scotland and engaged in correspondence with the Baillie family seeking financial compensation for defamation of character and erasure of the deed of separation. In 1735, Murray wrote a whimsical proposal for the economic development of the island of St. Kilda.Murray, Alexander (1735), ''A political whim concerning St. Kilda one of the Western Isles of Scotland, written in the year 1735'', in the ms. collection 'Murray Papers, Volume 7' ff.169 - 172 at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh In 1740, he published a collection of discussion documents, with the overall title ''The True Interest of Great Britain, Ireland and our Plantations: or, a Proposal for Making such a Union between Great Britain and Ireland, and all our Plantations, as that already made betwixt Scotland and England.'' etc.

In fiction

Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope features as a character in Andrew Drummond's fantasy novel ''The Books of the Incarceration of the Lady Grange'' (2016),.

References

External links

Digital version of ''The True Interest etc'' (Hathi Trust).

A biography of Alexander Murray, with particular reference to his political career and views.
Last accessed 27 June 2023.
Alexander Murray's attempt to establish mining in Ardnamurchan.
Last accessed 27 June 2023. 1680s births Year of birth uncertain 1743 deaths Nobility from the Scottish Borders Baronets in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1710–1713 {{Scotland-GreatBritain-MP-stub

In fiction

References

Further reading

External links