Sir Patrick 1st MURRAY 1st Lord Elibank of Ettrick Forest (1608?-1648)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage (1)

Marriage (2)

Marriage (3)

Marriage (4)

Marriage (5)

Individual Note

Patrick Murray was brought up in difficult times, when Scotland was clearly divided by religious strife, but Patrick followed his father as an out-and-out loyalist to the crown. As early as 1615 King James bestowed a pension on him for "true and faithful" service", but it is not known exactly what he had done thus to please the monarch. At the Session of the Estates, held in 1621, which ratified the famous Five Articles (which attempted to force the Scottish people to accept episcopalianism, in line with England and against the wishes of so many Scots) Murray, now Sir Patrick, voted with the majority to carry the motion, and no doubt subsequently enthusiastically supported the upholding of the Articles. In 1628, the year in which the king's action to resume the Church revenues came before the Estates, Sir Patrick was made a (Nova Scotia) baronet, doubtless for his continuing support for the king in what were proving unpopular measures. Apart from its unpopularity amonst Presbyterians, a large amount of families who had previously been granted church lands had no intention of giving them up without a struggle.

One of Patrick's jobs was as keeper of one of the king's properties, Caerlaverock (near Carlisle). He was also "knight, shireff principall of the shiredome of Handintoun (Haddington) for the yeere to come, and conveener of the justices of the peace within the said shirefdome".

Patrick Murray was politically and personally linked to John Stuart, 1st Earl of Traquair: they were both ardent royalists. Traquair was descended from both English (through his father) and Scottish (through his mother) royalty, and this helped to shape his political opinions and loyalties. Traquair (like Sir Patrick Murray) was thus involved in the persecution of Presbyterians by King Charles. Proud of his character which did not like to do things in half measures, he said: "I sal either mak the service be read heir in Edinburgh or I sal perishe by the way. Nothing proves more prejudiciall to your Majesty's service than to prosecute your commandments in a half or halting way... from that sect (the Presbyterians) I have seldom found any motioun proceid but such as did smell of sedition and mutiny". The proud Scottish people were not going to be bulldozed into this against their will! Traquair and Murray were also connected because the former took the post of Treasurer-Depute for Scotland following the latter's father Gideon's death. The political link was cemented by a family one when Sir Patrick Murray's son (also Patrick) married Traquair's daughter Elizabeth. It is interesting to note at this stage, and in connection with the religious battles raging at the time, that Sir Patrick's grandson married Anne Burnet, daughter of the celebrated churchman Alexander Burnet, who also so persecuted Presbyterians, and whose most famous remark was that "the only way to deal with a fanatic (by which he meant anyone with religious views that diverged from his own) is to starve him". Burnet had, incidentally, started his career as chaplain and tutor in the house of ... Lord Traquair.

In 1643 Sir Patrick was raised to the peerage of Scotland as Lord Elibank of Ettrick Forest, in consideration of his "worth, prudence and sufficiency, and of the many worthy services done to His Majesty, our late dearest Father in his Council, Session and Exchequer by the late Gideon Murray". In addition, Murray had provided further practical assistance to the royal cause by providing a troop of horse which accompanied the Scots convoy sent to Oxford (where the king held government).

Four years later, Lord Elibank was one of only six peers who opposed handing over King Charles to the English Parliament. Both he and Traquair were 100% involved, and later, as one might expect, paid the price. Throughout this whole period Lord Elibank was lending the King large sums of money.

Elibank was perhaps more fortunate than Traquair, who lived to see his estates taken from him: he died just before this happened, leaving his son, Patrick, 2nd Lord Elibank, aged 12 at the time, to oversee the family's demise. This happened finally in 1658, and two years later, at the age of only 40, under the iron rule of Cromwell where his royalist sympathies were of no advantage to him, and also as the son-in-law of the fallen Lord Traquair, he himself died.