page_title: John Murray of Broughton
section_title: Trial and later life
hierarchical_section_title: John Murray of Broughton / Career / Trial and later life
caption_attribution_description: English: William Hogarth - Simon, Lord Lovat
context_page_description: Sir John Murray of Broughton, 7th Baron Stanhope, also known as Murray of Broughton, was a Scottish baronet, who served as Jacobite Secretary of State during the 1745 Rising.
  As such, he was responsible for Jacobite civilian administration, and was by contemporary accounts hardworking and efficient. Captured in June 1746 after the Battle of Culloden, he gave evidence against Lord Lovat, who was later executed. Much of his testimony was directed against those who promised to support the Rising, but failed to do so.
  Released in 1748, he retired into a life of relative obscurity until his death in 1777. Although denounced as a traitor by some of his former colleagues, he retained his Jacobite beliefs and was one of the few to remain on good terms with Prince Charles.
context_section_description: Prior to the 1774 invasion attempt, James had given Murray an officer's commission. At his trial, he claimed this allowed him to be treated as a prisoner of war, rather than a rebel, an argument rejected by the court. Francis Towneley, commander of the Manchester Regiment, was executed on 30 July despite being a major with eight years service in the French army.
  Most high-ranking Jacobite prisoners had been sentenced before Murray arrived in London but he agreed to provide information in return for a pardon. While some accounts claim Murray's testimony led to Lovat's execution, it was primarily used to confirm details of the evidence; Lovat's participation was not in dispute and many contemporaries felt his execution was long overdue. In October 1745, Lovat had attempted to kidnap his long-term associate Duncan Forbes, the chief legal officer in Scotland, who wrote that his motive was to 'ruin and subvert the government, because they (would not) gratify his...avaricious passions and desires.'
  Of far greater long-term significance was Murray's testimony against sympathisers who failed to support the Rising, although he avoided incriminating those he had not met, like the Duke of Beaufort, known to be "a most determined and unwavering Jacobite." As with Lovat, he largely confirmed details already known, such as the meeting between Charles and Sir John Douglas, MP for Dumfriesshire at Stirling in January 1746. Two of his brothers served in the Jacobite army so Douglas' sympathies were hardly unknown, but Murray stated he was surprised to see him, 'never having suspected him to be in the Pretender's interest.'
  Although no action was taken against Douglas and others, this ended the practice whereby many British politicians could in theory support the overthrow of their own government with impunity. The Tory Jacobite Williams-Wynn shows why this was considered necessary; on various occasions prior to 1745, he assured the Stuarts of his support for an invasion, then spent the Rising in London. Despite this, he wrote to Charles in late 1747 claiming his supporters wished for 'another happy opportunity wherein they may exert themselves more in deeds than in words, in the support of your Royal Highness's dignity and interest and the cause of liberty.'
  Released from the Tower after Lovat's execution, Murray was formally pardoned in June 1748 and disappeared into obscurity. He purchased a property in Cheshunt, outside London, where he was reportedly visited by Charles in 1763, remarried and had another six children. He was allegedly treated for alcoholism on a number of occasions; he succeeded his nephew David as Baron Stanhope in 1770 and died at home in December 1777.
caption: Lord Lovat, on his way to London; Murray's testimony was extensively used in his trial, largely to confirm other evidence
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