George Murray (General)

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Sir George Murray

Sir George Murray , GCB , GCH , PC (born February 6, 1772 in Ochtertyre House near Crieff in Perthshire , † July 28, 1846 in London ) was a general , politician, quartermaster general , war and colonial minister.

Early life

He was the second son of Sir William Murray, 5th Baronet (of Ochtertyre in the County of Perth ), and Lady Augusta Mackenzie, the youngest daughter of George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie . He was educated at Edinburgh High School and the University of Edinburgh .

Military and political career

He came as an officer to the 71st Regiment, then to the 34th Regiment and from 1790 to the 3rd Foot Guards.

He served in Flanders from 1793 to 1794 and in the West Indies from 1795 to 1796, in 1801 he was in active service in Egypt and later quartermaster general in Portugal, Spain and Ireland, including during the campaigns on the Iberian Peninsula . In 1809 he became a colonel and major general . On September 11, 1813, he was knighted as Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath . In 1814 Murray received a post as Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Upper Canada and then he was Chief of Staff in Flanders until 1818. On January 2, 1815 he was elevated to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and in 1816 he was made the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order .

From 1819 to 1824 he was Governor of the Royal Military College Sandhurst and in 1823 he was elected as MP for Perthshire in the House of Commons of the British Parliament. From 1825 to 1828 he was a lieutenant general in Ireland. From May 1828 to November 1830 he was Minister of War and Colonial Affairs in the cabinet of the Duke of Wellington , where he allowed Thomas Peel to found the Swan River Colony with private funds, but this failed. Through his initiative with the later governor James Stirling , Western Australia was founded , where he not only sent convicts, but also free settlers. In 1832 he lost his seat of parliament, but won it back in the 1834 election. He was appointed general in November 1841.

Others

From his marriage to Lady Louisa Paget (around 1781–1842), daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge and widow of Sir James Erskine, 3rd Baronet, in 1826 , he left a daughter, Louisa Murray, who was Henry George Boyce ( † 1848), married an officer in the 2nd Life Guards .

From 1824 Murray was a Fellow of the Royal Society . From 1833 to 1835 he was President of the Royal Geographical Society .

Two rivers ( Murray River in Western Australia and the Murray River in Southeast Australia) and Mount Murray in Australia are named after him. The city of Perth in Australia was named after its constituency, Perthshire .

Literature and web links

Remarks

  1. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 179.
  2. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 182.
  3. ^ William Arthur Shaw: The Knights of England. Volume 1, Sherratt and Hughes, London 1906, p. 448.
personal data
SURNAME Murray, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murray, Sir George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general and politician, Member of the House of Commons, Quartermaster General, Secretary of War
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Ochtertyre , Perthshire
DATE OF DEATH July 28, 1846
Place of death London