John Murray of Broughton

Who was John Murray of Broughton?

Sir John Murray of Broughton, 7th Baronet Stanhope was a Jacobite, who served as secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart during the Jacobite Rising of 1745. He later earned the hatred of the Jacobites by turning King's evidence.

John Murray was born in Broughton in the Scottish Borders the son of Sir David Murray of Broughton, and Margaret Scott - a family long associated with the Stuart cause. In 1732 he was enrolled in the University of Edinburgh, then in 1735 he travelled to the Dutch University of Leyden. From there he went to the Stuart court-in-exile in Rome, where he became a confidant of Prince Charles. In 1738, he returned to Edinburgh and reacquired the ancestral estate of Broughton. He married Margaret Ferguson, who became a Jacobite heroine in her own right, by whom he had five children.