After the conclusion of the rebellion, he appears to have gone to Edinburgh to represent in as favourable a light as possible to the government the services of his father, in order to procure for him a sum of money in name of compensation.

As maternal grandson of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, Atholl succeeded to the sovereignty of the Isle of Man, and to the ancient barony of Strange, of Knockyn, Wotton, Mohun, Burnel, Basset, and Lacy, on the death of James, 10th Earl of Derby, in 1736.

On the approach of the highland army after the Jacobite rising of 1745, Atholl fled southwards, and his elder brother, the Marquis of Tullibardine, took possession of Blair Castle.

Because of this, we can thank not only the Duke of Atholl, but also the Menzies clan, for introducing Larch Trees to scotland as well as Great Britain.

He was succeeded by in the barony of Strange by his daughter, Lady Charlotte, and in the Scottish titles by his nephew, John, the son of George Murray, a general in the Jacobite rising of 1745 which the second Duke did not join.

They had four children: After his first wife's death in 1748 he married secondly Jean, daughter of John Drummond, 10th of Lennoch, on 7 May 1749, in Edinburgh.