John Murray, Lord Murray

[2] A liberal, Murray threw in his lot with the young Edinburgh Whig lawyers, and took part in the agitation before the Reform Bill of 1832.

He was appointed recorder of the great roll and clerk of the pipe, a sinecure in the Scottish exchequer which he did not long hold.

In 1839, he was savagely attacked in parliament by his old friend Brougham for his conduct in the case of five cotton-spinners who were tried on a charge of murder arising out of a trade-union dispute.

He remained on the bench till his death at his house 11 Great Stuart Street[3] on the Moray Estate in Edinburgh on 7 March 1859.

Walter Scott in his Diary records evenings spent at Murray's house, and Harriet Martineau celebrates his tea-parties at St. Stephen's when he was Lord Advocate.

[2] In Edinburgh and in his country residence at Strachur on Loch Fyne, and afterwards in Jura, he gathered friends round him, while Lady Murray, an accomplished musician, helped him to entertain them.