Those of you who know me, also know that I have a bit of a thing about 1745 and the Jacobite march to Derby – not to mention all those blue plaques announcing where the Stewart prince reseted his head. One of my heroes, it certainly isn’t the prince, is Lord George Murray. George was the sixth son of the 1st Duke of Atholl. He had taken the oath of allegiance to George II in 1739 having been pardoned for his part in the 1715 rising. When the prince arrived in Perth, Murray joined the prince. It wasn’t anything new. The Murray family and the earls of Atholl had been loyal to the Stewart cause throughout the seventeenth century. And let’s face it, after the deposition of James VII/II it was impossible to be loyal to two monarch, so there was some strategic ill health and geographical shenanigans to ensure that everyone- with a crown on their head- was as happy as possible. Even so, the 1st Duke, was careful to maintain his loyalty to the Hanoverians.

The eldest son of the duke had been killed at the Battle of Malplaquet in 1709. The new heir, William, Marquess of Tullibardine, was attained for his part in the 1715 Jacobite rising, took part in the 1719 rising and spent the next 25 years in exile. He would be one of the seven men who accompanied Bonnie Prince Charlie back to Scotland in 1745. By then he had lived a life of poverty and ill health. He was captured in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden and died in the Tower of London.

The third son of the duke, James, inherited his brother’s title after William was attainted and would eventually become the duke. He was with the Duke of Cumberland’s army when it arrived in Edinburgh at the beginning of 1746. He ordered his tenants to join the Hanoverian colours. When he died he was succeed by his nephew, John, the son of Lord George Murray – brother number 6. Charles Murray was also a Jacobite and there had been another George who died during his first year.

Like many Scots, Lord George Murray had been well educated before joining the army in the Low Countries. Given that the Wars of the Spanish Succession were underway there was no need for him to become a mercenary despite his chosen career as a professional soldier. The duke had avoided taking part in the 1715 rising and his heir also fought on behalf of the Hanoverians (the family knew how to balance on a political tightrope). But Murray joined the Jacobite cause along with two other brothers having spent time in London – all three strictly forbidden in writing from joining the Stewart cause. After the rising he did not return to Scotland until 1739. His brother, Tullibardine, remained at the side of the Old Pretender.

When Bonnie Prince Charlie arrived in Scotland in 1745, Murray joined with his former cause, and with his brother, once again. He became one of the army’s key commanders and is held responsible for the victory at Prestonpans against John Cope in September. It was George who planned the route from Scotland through Carlisle and the North-West of England despite the fact that he did not agree with the prince’s plan to invade England. And it was George who advised that the army should retreat from Derby recognising that there was little support for the Stuart cause in England – something that Charles never forgave him, even though he defeated an army at Falkirk in January 1746 and had protected the rearguard of the Jacobite column during the retreat from Derby back to Scotland. The prince had not wholly trusted him from the start of the campaign and blamed his losses on Murray.

He was opposed to the battle that took place at Culloden, recognising that it was poorly located. He commanded the right wing during the battle. The day afterwards he resigned from the army, wrote to Charles and after going into hiding went into exile. He never came home again. He was presented to James VIII/III in March 1747 in Rome and granted a pension. His wife, Amelia, joined him. When his brother, the Duke of Atholl died in 1764, despite the attainder against George, his son was allowed to inherit the dukedom.

And that leads us to the castle. And as you might expect in a family divided in its loyalties the fate of the castle was not a straight forward one. Duke James left the castle to join with the Hanoverians. William, who should have been the duke but wasn’t because he’d been attainted, arrived with Bonnie Prince Charlie (much awkwardness all around) but after what in modern parlance can only be described as a photo opportunity they all left and the various tenants of the duke breathed a huge sigh of relief. So far so good.

Now jump to 1746. The castle is garrisoned by Hanoverians – well it would be. The official duke was loyal to the government. On 16 March 1746 Lord George Murray turned up and besieged his childhood home., He wrote to his elder brother, William, the Jacobite duke, apologising about the fact that he intended to blow it to smithereens and destroy all the family portraits – to which William replied that despite the loss of the pictures he, being loyal to the Stuart cause, was not concerned. The garrison held out until 2 April when George was forced to withdraw, leaving the family portraits in tact and some lead from various forms of artillery in the roof timbers. Inevitably the prince wa snot pleased that George had not secured his old family home. On 16th April the Jacobites lost the Battle of Culloden.

George spent the next 8 months on the run before turning up in Europe. The Old Pretender welcomed him but the Bonnie Prince avoided the man he blamed for the failure of the rising. The prince’s viewpoint was somewhat in disagreement with Murray’s aide de camp – James the Chevalier de Johnstone who wrote:

Had Prince Charles slept during the whole of the expedition, and allowed Lord George to act for him, there is every reason for supposing he would have found the crown of Great Britain on his head when he awoke.

Murray was joined by his wife while his own eldest son, John , was raised by his brother, Duke James. The duke repaired the castle but made it less likely to be used defensively – new windows made it less of a fort and more of a manor house. John Murray married his cousin Charlotte reuniting the family split by civil conflict and ensuring that John was able to inherit the dukedom by right of his wife who became Baroness Strange (in her own right) as well as monarch of the Isle of Man. It was by vote of the House of Lords that John was identified as the rightful heir to the dukedom, not withstanding his father’s attainder.

Duke James had intended that his elder daughter, Jean, would marry his nephew – however, she had no intention of marrying her cousin and eloped with John Lindsay, Lord Crawford in 1747 from Edinburgh to marry at Berwick, when she was 17 years old. She died less than a year after her marriage. Charlotte and John Murray would go on to have nine children. My favourite fact about the 4th Duke of Atholl is that he planted his estates with larch trees- some of the seeds fired from a cannon. He hoped to sell the timber to the navy as well as using it himself for a range of purposes including furniture making.

The castle contains Bonnie Dundee’s armour (worn the day he was shot at Killiecrankie); Bonnie Prince Charlies gloves, glasses and compass and Lord George Murray’s white cockade indicating his support for the prince. I will also be posting at some point about the 8th Duke and his wife Katherine Ramsay who was a remarkable lady.