[3] Murray was given the office of foud of Shetland, a kind of bailiff in charge of collecting customs due the crown, on 29 July 1565.
[4] His brother James Murray of Pardewis offered to fight with the Earl of Bothwell in May 1567 to prove his guilt in the murder of Lord Darnley by combat.
[5] On 9 August 1567 the English ambassador in Edinburgh Nicholas Throckmorton interviewed Murray, trying to work out the politics of his brother-in-law, the Earl of Mar, and the intentions of the Scottish lords towards the deposed and imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots.
In March 1579, as Comptroller of the king's household Murray told the Privy Council that he had commissioned and made a proclamation authorising Jerome Bowie's "visiting, tasting, and uptaking of wines for his Majesty's house at reasonable prices".
The Provost of Edinburgh Archibald Stewart and others came to argue the merchants' case, but the Privy Council was not impressed and set prices for wines sold to Bowie.
[14] The privy seal letter appointing his son as his substitute describes his faithful service and the present "inhabilitie of his persoun, being subject to infirmitie and seiknes, speciallie the gut" (gout).