James Murray, Earl of Dunbar (c.1690–1770) was a Jacobite.

Family

He was the second child of David Murray, 5th Viscount of Stormont and Majory Scott. His brothers included David Murray, 6th Viscount of Stormont

David Murray, 6th Viscount of Stormont

David Murray, 6th Viscount of Stormont was a Scottish peer, succeeding to the Viscountcy of Stormont on his father David's death in 1731 and holding it until his own death. His mother was Marjory Scott, and among his brothers were the Earl of Mansfield and the Jacobite James Murray...

 and the First Earl of Mansfield

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield

William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, SL, PC was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland before moving to London at the age of 13 to take up a place at Westminster School...

.

Life

His father's family was Protestant but Jacobite

Jacobitism

Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...

 in its politics, and James was no exception. From 1711 to 1713 he was Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Dumfriesshire

Dumfriesshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Dumfriesshire was a county constituency represented in the of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 2005. It was known as Dumfries from 1950...

 but, apparently mixed up in some of the plots of the time, he later went to join the court of the exiled Stuarts. He was reportedly both ambitious and a holder of grudges.

In 1719 James Murray turned the Jacobite court in Rome into (in Maurice Bruce's words) "a hotbed of intrigue" and, during the subsequent imprisonment of his enemy the Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 22nd and de jure 6th Earl of Mar, KT , Scottish Jacobite, was the eldest son of the 21st Earl of Mar , from whom he inherited estates that were heavily loaded with debt. By modern reckoning he was 22nd Earl of Mar of the first creation and de jure 6th Earl of Mar of the seventh...

 in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

 from May 1719 to June 1720, he served as Secretary of State

Secretary of State

Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....

 to James Francis Edward Stuart

James Francis Edward Stuart

James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...

, the "Old Pretender", but gained enemies in the Jacobite court (including Mar) and was sent away from Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 in 1720. Nevertheless, he never wholly lost favour with the Pretender, who created him Earl of Dunbar

Earl of Dunbar

The title Earl of Dunbar, also called Earl of Lothian or Earl of March, was the head of a comital lordship in south-eastern Scotland between the early 12th century and the early 15th century. The first man to use the title of Earl in this earldom was Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, son of Gospatric,...

 in 1721 and Governor and tutor to the Prince of Wales

Charles Edward Stuart

Prince Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or The Young Pretender was the second Jacobite pretender to the thrones of Great Britain , and Ireland...

 sometime in 1726, confirming it on June 4, 1727. At the same time John Hay of Cromlix

John Hay of Cromlix

John Hay of Cromlix was the Jacobite duke of Inverness and a courtier and army officer to the 'Old Pretender'. He was from the Clan Hay.-Life:...

 was made secretary of state, and his wife Marjorie (James Murray's sister) made Charles' governess (though the Hays resigned their posts in 1727).

Murray and Bishop Atterbury

Francis Atterbury

Francis Atterbury was an English man of letters, politician and bishop.-Early life:He was born at Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, where his father was rector. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a tutor...

 co-operated in Mar's final fall from Jacobite favour in 1724 and, though he and Atterbury came into conflict between 1725 and 1728, the quarrel was soon patched up. In 1747 James Murray retired to Avignon

Avignon

Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

, where there was a significant community of Jacobites, living there until his death.

Murray's daughter Mary Murray married Colonel Ligonier or Ligunier, and their daughter Frances married a Colonel Thomas Balfour.