Sir James Murray-Pulteney, 7th Baronet

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General Sir James Murray-Pulteney, 7th Baronet PC (c. 1755 – 26 April 1811) was a Scottish soldier and British politician.

James Murray was the son of Colonel Robert Murray of Clermont (after 1769, Sir Robert Murray, Bt.) and his first wife Janet Murray, a younger sister of Patrick Murray, 5th Lord Elibank. He inherited his father's title in 1771, while still a minor.

He had had his first commissions purchased in his mid-teens: Lieutenant, 19th Regiment, 1770, then Captain, 57th Regiment, 1771. Having spent 1772-73 and 1775 travelling in Europe, he returned to his regiment in Ireland in November 1775 and embarked for the Colonies in 1776 to serve in the American War of Independence. He was wounded at the battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania, and shared his convalescence with his cousin Patrick Ferguson.

On 24 July 1794, he married Laura Pulteney, daughter of his cousin William Pulteney in Bath House, London. He changed his name to Murray-Pulteney. Henrietta inherited the Pulteney estates, worth about £50,000 per year.

Serving in the 18th Foot, he reached the rank of Colonel and from 1790 to 1811, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. In 1807, he was invested to the Privy Council and was Secretary at War between 1807 and 1809. He died in Buckenham, Norfolk, from complications after losing an eye when a powder-flask accidentally exploded in his face.

There are two portraits of him in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, one of which shows him with his younger half-brother John (by their father's second wife).

[edit] References

• thePeerage. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page

[edit] Further reading

• James Murray (ed. E. Robson), Letters from America 1773 to 1780: Being the letters of a Scots officer, Sir James Murray, to his home during the War of American Independence, Manchester, 1951

Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Thomas Rumbold John Purling Wellbore Ellis Gabriel Steward	Member of Parliament for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis with Thomas Jones 1790-1791 Richard Bempde Johnstone 1790-1796 Andrew Stuart 1790-1801 Sir James Johnstone 1791-1794 Gabriel Tucker Steward 1794-1810 William Garthshore 1796-1806 Charles Adams 1801-1811 Richard Augustus Tucker Steward 1806-1811 Sir John Lowther Johnstone 1810-1811 1790–1811	Succeeded by Sir John Murray Sir John Lowther Johnstone Richard Augustus Tucker Steward Charles Adams
Political offices
Preceded by Richard Fitzpatrick	Secretary at War 1807–1809	Succeeded by Lord Granville Leveson-Gower
Baronetage of Nova Scotia
Preceded by Robert Murray	Baronet (of Dalrany) 1771–1811	Succeeded by John Murray