Murray History

The progenitor of this family was Freskin (12th century). He may have been a Pict, but more likely a Flemish knight, one of many employed by the Norman kings to pacify England after the Conquest. David I, brought up at the English court, used such men to help him hold the wilder parts of the kingdom, and he granted Moray and lands in West Lothian to Freskin. The lines descending from Freskin are linked heraldically by their use of three stars and the colours blue and silver in some fashion on their coats of arms. In charters, Freskin' s other descendants were designated "de Moravia", and this, in Lowland Scots, became "Murray".
Sir Walter Murray, who became Lord of Bothwell in Clydesdale through marriage to an Oliphant heiress, was one of the regents of Scotland in 1255. He started Bothwell Castle, seat of the chiefs until 1360, when it passed to the Douglases. The third Murray Lord of Bothwell died in the Tower of London, whereupon his heir, Sir Andrew Murray, took up the cause of Scottish independence and rose against Edward I in 1297. Sir Andrew' s heir, the fourth Lord, fell at the Battle of Halidon Hill in 1333. The lordship passed to the Douglases when the fifth Lord and chief died of plague in 1360, and his widow married the third Earl of Douglas.
There were many branches of the name who disputed the right to the chiefship, but in the sixteenth century the Murrays of Tullibardine are recorded using the undifferenced Murray arms in the armorial of Lord Lyon Lindsay of 1542. The Tullibardine claim seems to have rested upon descent from Sir Malcolm, sheriff of Perth around 1270. In order to consolidate their position, the Tullibardines promoted two "bands of association"in 1586 and 1598, whereby the numerous Murray lairds recognized the chiefship of Sir John Murray, created first Earl of Tullibardine in 1606.
His son and heir married Dorothea Stewart, heiress to the Earls of Atholl. She brought with her a vast estate; the Stewart earldom of Atholl became a Murray earldom in 1629, and a marquisate in 1676. In 1703 the Murrays were created Dukes of Atholl. The first Duke' s younger son, Lord George Murray, was the great Jacobite general who died in exile in the Netherlands in 1760. Culloden was the last time that the Highlanders of Atholl went to war, but the ceremonial guard of the chiefs - which became known as the Atholl Highlanders - still has the unique honour of being the only private army in the realm.
Another unique honour passed to the family in 1736, when the second Duke inherited through his grandmother the sovereignty of the Isle of Man. Although the third Duke transferred the sovereignty to the British Crown in 1765, the Atholl arms still display the triquetra, the symbol of the island. Another royal connection was established when Sir David Murray was granted the lands of Scone by James VI in 1600. On the lands stood the ancient hill on which the kings of Scots were crowned, a ceremony which last took place in 1651, when Charles II was proclaimed king. Sir David was created Lord Scone and later Viscount of Stormont. His descendants became the Earls of Mansfield. The first Earl of Mansfield was one of the greatest jurists of his time, and rose to become Lord Chief Justice of England. His direct descendent, the seventh Earl of Mansfield has held high Government office as a minister for Scottish affairs.