# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, Alexander (d.1777)

​MURRAY, ALEXANDER (d. 1777), Jacobite, was the fourth son of Alexander, fourth lord Elibank, by Elizabeth, daughter of George Stirling, surgeon, Edinburgh. He served for some time in the army, having received an ensigncy in the 26th regiment of foot, or Cameronians, 11 Aug. 1737. Horace Walpole wrote of him and his brother, the fifth Lord Elibank [see Murray, Patrick], that they were 'both such active Jacobites, that if the Pretender had succeeded they would have produced many witnesses to testify their great zeal for him; both so cautious that no ​witnesses of active treason could be produced by the government against them' (Journal of George II, p. 17). At the famous Westminster election of 1750 Murray took a very active part in favour of Sir George Vandeput, the anti-ministerial candidate. A complaint was preferred against him to the House of Commons by Peter Leigh, high bailiff of Westminster, on 20 Jan. 1751, to the effect that on 15 May 1750 he was the ringleader of a mob, whom he encouraged to acts of violence by shouting, 'Will no one have courage enough to knock the dog down?' On 1 Feb. 1751 he was called before the house, and after being taken into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms was admitted to bail, but on 6 Feb., by a majority of 169 to 52, he was ordered to be committed a close prisoner to Newgate. Thereafter, by a majority of 166 to 40, it was resolved that he should be brought to receive admonition on his knees, but to the speaker's request that he should kneel he answered, 'Sir, I beg to be excused ; I never kneel but to God' (ib. p. 29). It was thereupon carried that since he had 'absolutely refused to be on his knees,' he was 'guilty of a high and most dangerous contempt of the authority of the House of Commons,' and he was ordered to be recommitted to Newgate, the use of paper and pens being forbidden him, and no person to be admitted to him without the leave of the house. On the report of the doctor that his life was endangered by the gaol distemper he was ordered to be discharged from Newgate, and committed to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms, with the same restrictions as formerly: but he declined to accept the relief offered him, and elected to remain in Newgate. On 27 April he was again brought before the house, when a motion was made to admit him to bail, which, however, was refused. In May he caused himself to be brought before the court of queen's bench on a writ of habeas corpus, but the judges unanimously refused to discharge him, deciding that the commons had power to judge their own privileges (Hallam, Const. Hist. iii. 274, 280). After the prorogation of parliament on 25 June he was released by the sheriffs of London; and in a coach, accompanied by Lord Carpenter and Sir George Vandeput, with the sheriffs in attendance in a chariot, went in procession from Newgate to the house of his brother, Lord Elibank, in Henrietta Street, with a banner carried before him inscribed ' Murray and Liberty.' His portrait in mezzotint was engraved, and a pamphlet on the case was circulated entitled 'The Case of the Hon. Alexander Murray, Esq., in an Appeal to the People of Great Britain, more particularly the Inhabitants of the City and Liberty of Westminster,' 1751. According to Horace Walpole, the author of the pamphlet was Paul Whitehead (Letters, ii. 201). Search was made for the pamphlet by the high bailiff of Westminster, and on 2 July Pugh the printer and Owen the publisher, after examination at the secretary's office, were detained in custody. Before the meeting of parliament in November Murray passed over to France, where he was known as Count Murray. On 25 Nov. a motion was carried in the House of Commons for his recommittal to Newgate, and a reward of five hundred pounds was offered for his apprehension. In 1763 he was concerned in the quarrel at Paris between his friend Captain Forbes and the notorious John Wilkes. In the 'Great Douglas cause' against James George, fourth duke of Hamilton, he displayed much zeal on behalf of the pursuer [see under Douglas, Archibald James Edward, first Baron Douglas]. In April 1771 he was recalled from exile by letter under the king's privy seal. He died unmarried in 1777. Murray was a correspondent of David Hume, for whom he had a high admiration. A portrait by Allan Ramsay is in the Scottish National Gallery, and was engraved by J. Faber.
[Case of Honourable Alexander Murray, 1751; Orders of the House of Commons, to which are added Proceedings of the House against the Hon. Mr. Murray, 2nd edit. 1756; Horace Walpole's George II; Horace Walpole's Letters; Burton's Life of Hume; Gent. Mag.; 1751; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), i. 8; Mahon's Hist. of England, iv. 29-30.]
T. F. H.