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His GraceThe Duke of AthollKT PC FRS
Lord Lieutenant of Perthshire
In office 1796–1830
Monarchs	George III George IV William IV
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	The Earl of Kinnoull
Personal details
Born	(1755-06-30)30 June 1755 Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland
Died	29 September 1830(1830-09-29) (aged 75) Dunkeld, Perthshire, Scotland
Nationality	British
Spouses	Hon. Jane Cathcart ​ ​(m. 1774; died 1790)​ Hon. Margery Forbes ​(m. 1794)​
Children	11, including John, 5th Duke of Atholl, and James, 1st Baron Glenlyon
Parents	John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl (father) Charlotte Murray, 8th Baroness Strange (mother)

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 wife, Charlotte, 8th Baroness Strange, daughter of James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl. His parents were first cousins. Lord George Murray and Lord Charles Murray-Aynsley were his younger brothers. He became known by the courtesy title Marquess of Tullibardine when his father succeeded to the dukedom in 1764.

Murray succeeded his father as fourth Duke of Atholl in 1774 and was elected a Scottish representative peer. In 1786 he was created Baron Murray, of Stanley in the County of Gloucester, and Earl Strange in the Peerage of Great Britain, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. He later served as Lord-Lieutenant of Perthshire from 1794 to 1830 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1797.

In 1800, he was made a Knight of the Thistle. In 1793 he was appointed Captain-General and Governor in Chief of the Isle of Man, his mother making over to him most of her rights in the Island. He succeeded his mother in the barony of Strange in 1805. He was also Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England from 1775 until 1781 and again from 1791 until 1812.

During his control of the Blair Estate, he planted over 20 million trees over an area of 16,000 acres, using cannon filled with seed to spread seed over the high hills. He earned himself the nickname "The Planting Duke".

He introduced Japanese Larch into Britain, planting the trees at Dunkeld, where they hybridized with the first European Larch in Britain, planted by his uncle, the second duke, and gave rise to the Dunkeld Larch. In 1796-97 he planted pine and larch around the Falls of Bruar as a tribute to the recently deceased Robert Burns, responding to his poem The Humble Petition of Bruar Water to the Noble Duke of Atholl (1787). The Duke wrote "Observations on Larch" in 1807 encouraging further its cultivation, which he practiced on a large scale.

Atholl's large-scale reforestation of the Blair Estate took place largely in Glen Tarf, which was set aside as grazing pasture for the people of Glen Tilt, to be held in common by the whole community. This led to the mass emigration of Glen Tilt cattle farmers; Highland historian Alexander Mackenzie attributes Atholl's reforestation efforts partially to his fondness for venison, and cites it as the first act of the Highland clearances.

Atholl died in September 1830, aged 75, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John. The Duchess of Atholl died in October 1842, aged 81. Athol, Nova Scotia is named after him.

Personal life

Atholl married Hon. Jane Cathcart (24 May 1754 – 26 December 1790), daughter of Charles Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart and Jane, Lady Cathcart (daughter of Lord Archibald Hamilton and Lady Jane Hamilton), on 26 December 1774. They had nine children:

• Lady Charlotte Murray (23 October 1775 – 31 May 1832), who married Sir John Menzies, 4th Baronet of Castle Menzies. After his death, she married Admiral Sir Adam Drummond, 7th of Megginch, a son of Colin Drummond (great-grandparents of John Drummond, 15th Baron Strange)
• Lady Mary Louisa Murray (11 December 1776 – 9 June 1777), died in infancy
• John Murray, 5th Duke of Atholl (1778–1846)
• Lady Amelia Sophia Murray (5 July 1780 – 19 June 1849), married James Drummond, 8th Viscount Strathallan
• James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon (1782–1837), who married Emily Frances Percy and had four children, including the 6th Duke.
• Lord Edward Murray (11 September 1783 – 19 March 1795), died in childhood
• Lord Robert Murray (13 March 1785 – 5 February 1793), died in childhood
• Lady Elizabeth Murray (19 April 1787 – 12 April 1846), married Sir Evan Murray-Macgregor
• Lord Frederick Murray (13 October 1788 – 11 April 1789), died in infancy

After his first wife's death in 1790, on 11 March 1794, he married Marjory, Lady MacLeod, the widow of John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod and daughter of James Forbes, 16th Lord Forbes, and Catherine Innes. They had two children:

• Lady Catherine Murray (1 August 1795 – 23 January 1796), died in infancy
• Lord Charles Murray (11 March 1799 – 11 August 1824), who died of disease at Gastouni, Peloponnese while contributing to the Greek War of Independence.

Ancestry

References

1. "Births". The Scots Magazine. XVII: 316. June 1755.
2. ^ Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1883). A Genealogical History of the Dormant, Abeyant, Forfeited, and Extinct Peerages of the British Empire (3 ed.). London: Harrison. pp. 176–177. ISBN 0-8063-0789-7.
3. "No. 12775". The London Gazette. 5 August 1786. p. 351.
4. Train, Joseph (1845), History of the Isle of Man, 1, p. 250
5. Scottish Garden Buildings by Tim Buxbaum p.11
6. http://www.dunkeldandbirnam.org.uk/component/sobipro/3330-Grounds-of-Dunkeld-Hilton-House?Itemid=0 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine; wrongly given as the 7th duke
7. Dingwall, Christopher (1994), Gardens in the Wild, Garden History 22, 2, p. 151
8. The Philosophical Magazine and Journal, Vol. 53, 1819
9. Mackenzie, Alexander. The History of the Highland Clearances, 1883
10. ^ Lodge, Edmund (1845). The Peerage of the British Empire as at Present Existing Arranged and Printed from the Personal Communications of the Nobility by Edmund Lodge Esq. Saunders and Otley Conduit Street. p. 32. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
11. Millingen, Julius (1831). Memoirs of the Affairs of Greece. London: John Rodwell. pp. 182–183.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Atholl

Honorary titles
New office	Lord Lieutenant of Perthshire 1794–1830	Succeeded byThe Earl of Kinnoull
Masonic offices
Preceded byThe Duke of Atholl	Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England 1775–1781	Succeeded byThe Earl of Antrim
Preceded bySir William Forbes, Bt	Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland 1778–1780	Succeeded byThe Earl of Balcarres
Preceded byThe Earl of Antrim	Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England 1791–1812	Succeeded byThe Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded byJohn Murray	Duke of Atholl 1774–1830	Succeeded byJohn Murray
Peerage of Great Britain
New creation	Earl Strange 1786–1830	Succeeded byJohn Murray
Peerage of England
Preceded byCharlotte Murray	Baron Strange 4th creation 1805–1830	Succeeded byJohn Murray

• 1755 births
• 1830 deaths
• Nobility from Perth and Kinross
• Dukes of Atholl
• Knights of the Thistle
• Lord-lieutenants of Perthshire
• Scottish representative peers
• Peers of Great Britain created by George III
• Grand masters of the United Grand Lodge of England
• Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain
• Fellows of the Royal Society
• Clan Murray
• Governors of the Isle of Man
• 18th-century Scottish people
• 19th-century Scottish people
• People of Byzantine descent
• Dukes of Rannoch
• Barons Strange