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William Murray, 2nd Lord Nairne

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William Murray, 2nd Lord Nairne (c. 1665 – 3 February 1726) was a Scottish peer and Jacobite who fought in the Rising of 1715, after which he was attainted and condemned to death for treason, but in 1717 he was indemnified and released.

In 1721, he was created Earl of Nairne in the Jacobite peerage.

Life

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Born about 1665, the fourth son of John Murray, 1st Marquess of Atholl, by his marriage to Lady Amelia Sophia, a daughter of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, Murray was the younger brother of John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl.[1] His grandmother, Charlotte Stanley, Countess of Derby (1599–1664), a daughter of Claude de La Trémoille, Duke of Thouars (1566–1604) was famous in her own right for her defence of Lathom House against Parliamentary forces during the First English Civil War in 1644.[2]

In February 1680 William Murray married ten-year-old Margaret Nairne (born on 16 December 1669), the only daughter and heiress of Robert Nairne. In 1681 Nairne, an octogenarian who had no sons, was created by King Charles II Lord Nairne, in the peerage of Scotland, with a special remainder to his son-in-law. Thus, when Nairne died on 30 May 1683, Murray succeeded him in the peerage. He also inherited the Nairne estate in Perthshire and the family seat, the House of Nairne, which he rebuilt and greatly expanded from 1706 to the designs of Sir William Bruce following a fire in 1705.[3]

He took his seat in the Parliament of Scotland on 22 October 1690, but he never took the oath of allegiance to the new monarchs, William III and Mary II, who in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 had unseated the last Stuart king, James II.[1]

The Old Pretender

Unlike his brother John, who had taken the side of William and Mary and was created Earl of Tullibardine by William in 1696 and Duke of Atholl by Queen Anne, Nairne's loyalties remained with King James and his heirs. At the time of the Jacobite rising of 1715, Nairne was one of the first to rally to the cause of the Old Pretender when John Erskine, Earl of Mar, proclaimed him King at Braemar on 6 September 1715, and Nairne fought through Mar's autumn campaign.[1] On 14 November 1715, after the disastrous Battle of Preston, Nairne was taken prisoner and was sent from there to the Tower of London.[1]

On 9 February 1716 Nairne was tried for treason, found guilty, attainted, and condemned to death. However, his execution was stayed and he lived to benefit from the Indemnity Act of 1717, so in December of that year was released. On 24 June 1721 he was created Earl of Nairne in the Jacobite peerage and died on 3 February 1726. His widow survived him until 1747.[1]

Children and posterity

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e Melville Henry Massue, Marquess of Ruvigny & Raineval, The Jacobite Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Grants of Honour (Genealogical Publishing Co., 2003 edition), p. 126
  2. ^ James Wood, 'Derby, Charlotte, Countess of' in The Nuttall Encyclopædia (London & New York: Frederick Warne, 1907)
  3. ^ Scotland's Lost Gardens by Marilyn Brown ISBN 978-1-902419-947
  4. ^ John Burke, 'Drummond of Cadlands' in A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions or High Official Rank (Henry Colburne, 1836), p. 560
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Lord Nairne
1683–1716
Forfeit
restored in 1824 to William Murray Nairne