John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl


John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl, KT, PC, FRS, styled Marquess of Tullibardine from 1764 to 1774, was a British politician.

Life and career

Murray was the eldest son of John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl, and his wife, Charlotte, 8th Baroness Strange, daughter of James Murray, 2nd Duke of Atholl. His parents were first cousins. Lord George Murray and Lord Charles Murray-Aynsley were his younger brothers. He became known by the courtesy title Marquess of Tullibardine when his father succeeded to the dukedom in 1764.
Murray succeeded his father as fourth Duke of Atholl in 1774 and was elected a Scottish representative peer. In 1786 he was created Baron Murray, of Stanley in the County of Gloucester, and Earl Strange in the Peerage of Great Britain, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords. He later served as Lord-Lieutenant of Perthshire from 1794 to 1830 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1797.
In 1800, he was made a Knight of the Thistle. In 1793 he was appointed Captain-General and Governor in Chief of the Isle of Man, his mother making over to him most of her rights in the Island. He succeeded his mother in the barony of Strange in 1805. He was also Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England from 1775 until 1781 and again from 1791 until 1812.
During his control of the Blair Estate, he planted over 20 million trees over an area of 16,000 acres, using cannon filled with seed to spread seed over the high hills. He earned himself the nickname "The Planting Duke".
He introduced Japanese Larch into Britain, planting the trees at Dunkeld, where they hybridized with the first European Larch in Britain, planted by his uncle, the second duke, and gave rise to the Dunkeld Larch. In 1796-97 he planted pine and larch around the Falls of Bruar as a tribute to the recently deceased Robert Burns, responding to his poem The Humble Petition of Bruar Water to the Noble Duke of Atholl. The Duke wrote "Observations on Larch" in 1807 encouraging further its cultivation, which he practiced on a large scale.
Atholl's large-scale reforestation of the Blair Estate took place largely in Glen Tarf, which was set aside as grazing pasture for the people of Glen Tilt, to be held in common by the whole community. This led to the mass emigration of Glen Tilt cattle farmers; Highland historian Alexander Mackenzie attributes Atholl's reforestation efforts partially to his fondness for venison, and cites it as the first act of the Highland clearances.
Atholl died in September 1830, aged 75, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John. The Duchess of Atholl died in October 1842, aged 81. Athol, Nova Scotia is named after him.

Personal life

Atholl married his second cousin, Hon. Jane Cathcart, daughter of Charles Cathcart, 9th Lord Cathcart and Jane, Lady Cathcart, on 26 December 1774. They had nine children:
After his first wife's death in 1790, on 11 March 1794, he married Marjory, Lady MacLeod, the widow of John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod and daughter of James Forbes, 16th Lord Forbes, and Catherine Innes. They had two children: